Imagine me Stories empowering black children with books and activities

by Startacus Admin

Tackling diversity through the creation of Imagine Me Stories, the subscription box to inspire, empower and teach black children...

As we all know, many businesses are created when someone spots a clear gap in the market. And that is exactly the case for former city worker Keisha Ehigie. Keisha has recently launched Imagine Me Stories, a monthly subscription box which supplies black children's books and activities to help black children see their realities reflected in books.

Keisha had first noticed the lack of representation in children's books when her daughter turned two and started asking questions about her hair and skin colour. Her daughter was observing physical differences between her and her friends and so decided to get her some books which had characters that looked like her, however she soon realised that it was a struggle to find such books in traditional bookshops and retailers. She then undertook some research and discovered that children's books are more likely to feature an animal character than a person of colour.

She realised then that other black parents were also struggling with finding representation in children's books and decided to set up a subscription service to take out the hassle of searching for books. The Imagine Me Stories subscription box starts from £18.99 per mth and includes 2-3 specially selected books and empowering activities which teach about black history and culture.

Split into 3 age categories from 0-12, the box’s aim is to empower black children and build their self-esteem whilst of course helping them to learn about inspirational icons and trailblazers in the black community.

Keisha has been working with a number of UK publishers to source representative books and hopes that the demand created by the subscription box will in turn help lead to more diverse children's books being published.

Although there are efforts to draw attention to the achievements of the black community once a year through Black History Month, Imagine Me Stories is on a mission to ensure that the learning doesn't end there.

As Keisha says ” Representation is vital to ensure that children see positive views of themselves and what they can achieve in society and every child should be able to see themselves reflected in the books they read."

We agree completely...

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• #children
• #education
• #fun
• #diversity
• #subscription

Published on: 8th November 2019