Penny Reads

Step inside a world of books. Vintage and modern. Children's and Adult.

Black Lives Matter

I am not your Baby Mother – Candice Brathwaite

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I’ve been aware of Candice Brathwaite online for ages. I’ve regularly seen people sharing her instagram posts and holding her up as a role model for black mothers here in the UK. But I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t really know much about her before I sat down to read her book – I Am Not Your Baby Mother.

The image shows a copy of the front cover of I Am Not Your Baby Mother by Candice Brathwaite. The text colour alternates with "I am your mother" in a darker font and "not baby" in a lighter font.

The strap line of the book is “what it’s like to be a black British mother” and that really sums the book up. Candice telling the reader about her own experiences growing up as a black child, and then making the transition into motherhood. Without necessarily being able to relate to many of the mothers that she saw either online or in the print media.

Being Candice though her writing style is such that sitting down with the book is really just like sitting down with her for a chat over a drink. She’ll make you laugh. Make you cry. And also make you really stop and think. And in some places, I’ll admit that it made me feel a bit uncomfortable and challenged some of my own thoughts and stereotypes that I hadn’t necessarily realised were that. It’s written in such an accessible way though that it is an absolute joy to read. Even the bits that made me feel uncomfortable.

Let’s start with a fact taken from the back cover.

Black women in the UK are five times more likely to die in childbirth than their white counterparts.

That is a sobering fact. Imagine reading that as a black woman pregnant for the first time. I can’t begin to imagine how it would make you feel. It is exactly why we need black mothers like Candice to speak out about their own experiences and also to be there as a role model for women following in their footsteps.

Another part of the book that initially made me feel uncomfortable was the title. I Am Not Your Baby Mother. What does that actually mean? The alternating text colour on the cover confused me further. Should I read something further into it. I am your mother? Not baby? The first two pages of the introduction explain exactly what a “baby mother” is, complete with an Oxford English dictionary definition and provide a great starting point in my education of what it is like to be a black British mother.

I am not your Baby Mother was written before the recent Black Lives Matter protests, but it fits perfectly for anyone who is reading to help educate themselves. Candice herself says that she hope’s she’s “able to accurately describe the many hurdles black British mothers are up against” and I believe it’s something she does with aplomb.

As for Candice Brathwaite herself. Basically I’d like her to be my friend. The kind of person that you enjoy a cuppa (or something stronger) with whilst the kids cause havoc elsewhere in the house. The kind of friend that is in your phone at any hour of the day or night. The kind of friend who sets you right when you make mistakes, but doing so firmly, explains what you’ve done so you don’t do it again. But more than anything her instagram tells me that she’s recently bought herself a pair of roller-skates which she’s been testing out in her kitchen and that makes her damn cool in my book!

I Am Not Your Baby Mother is published by Quercus and is available to buy in high street bookshops or online *here.

Disclaimer: I given a copy of I Am Not Your Baby Mother as a birthday present. I wasn’t asked to write about it at all. Any links in this article marked with a * are affiliate links and if you buy anything through them I receive a small commission. It will not cost you any more than if you had arrived at the site on your own. Thank you for any purchases that you do make.

Coming to England – Floella Benjamin

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I’ve been meaning to write about Coming to England for ages, but the BBC showing again a film adaptation of it recently (currently still available on iPlayer here – but not for ever!) has prompted me into action.

The cover of Coming to England by Floella Benjamin

When I first spotted Coming to England on the shelves in a local bookshop I was initially drawn in because I’m such a huge fam of Floella Benjamin. As a child of the 80s she was one of the main faces of Children’s television, and ever since then she’s just been one of those constant people. A voice of comfort and common sense.

With the responses across the world to the killing of George Floyd, her story of coming to England as a child of the Windrush generation takes on additional significance in educating all of us.

Floella’s story

Floella was born in Trinidad and started her childhood there with her brothers and sisters and parents. that happy settled childhood was not to continue though. Her father soon started talking about going to England. A country she had learnt so much about at school. A country that so many West Indians were encouraged to move to to help rebuild the country after the Second World War.

Initially Floella’s father travelled over on his own, and then after nearly a year her mother went to join him. They did not have the money to take all six children with her, so four of the children stayed behind in Trinidad whilst the youngest two joined their mother on the voyage.

True to their promise Floella and her sister and two brothers were eventually brought over from Trinidad, but not after an uncomfortable period living with “relatives” who basically treated them as servants.

The two-week sea journey from the Caribbean to England was an experience in itself, but once they reached England the country, and their living condition were not as they expected. Nor were the attitudes of neighbours and other school children.

What is so clear in Coming to England, is Floella Benjamin’s amazing ability to talk to children. What she describes in heart-wrenching in parts, but she so expertly demonstrates what it was like to experience everything firsthand, as a child. The book somehow manages to combine being an important historical account, with also being an enjoyable read for a child.

Educational value of Coming to England

My (then) nine year old daughter read the book first and it enabled us to have some wonderful conversations about all the emotions that Floella would have experienced as a child, and how the reactions of other children made her feel. Having also read The Boy at the Back of the Class recently, it gave us a wonderful opportunity to compare the two books and the attitudes of some of the children in them, as well as that of the adults. To talk about where things had changed, and where things sadly hadn’t.

I hadn’t previously been aware of the film version of the book, but someone on Insta Stories happened to mention it last week and we all sat down to watch it together after school one day this week. It’s an excellent adaptation of the book, narrated by Floella herself, and for children who might not be ready for the book it’s an excellent way of getting the story over and initiating conversations about race with them.

Where to buy or watch Coming to England

Coming to England is available to buy online on Amazon *here or, if you prefer to shop independently via Hive here. If you are buying from Hive, I strongly recommend you sign up to *TopCashBack first as you can nearly always find cashback on there fore Hive.co.uk – at the time of writing a whopping 13.2% on books!

Coming to England the film version is currently on BBC iPlayer here.

Disclaimer: All links in this article marked * are affiliate or referral links. If you purchase something through them then I receive a small amount of commission, whilst it costs you no more than if you had arrived at the site on your own.

The Boy at the Back of the Class – Onjali Q. Raúf

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In recent weeks many of us are reading as a way of educating ourselves in response to horrific events in America and the high profile response often Black Lives Matter campaign to those events. As a family we’re doing that and I plan to share the books that we’re using to make sure that everyone see the world as a diverse place and understands as much history as possible. Both old and modern. The first of these books for us is The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf.

Photograph of the front cover of the book The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Rauf

We started reading The Boy at the Back of the Class just before school finished in March and the original plan was that each evening then nine year old Little Miss C and I would read a chapter together and talk about what happened in it.

But then home schooling started and by the time we got to bedtime we were normally all so exhausted that we just wanted to fall into bed. As we got into more of a rhythm though we started to make an effort to carve out a bit of time during the school day to read together, and I’m so glad we did.

The Boy at the Back of the Class

Published in 2018, The Boy at the Back of the Class is the story of what happens when Ahmet joins a new class at school and takes a seat at the back of the class. Ahmet is nine years old and initially a mystery to the other children in his class. His break times are spent in isolation and he has a member of staff sat with him at the back of the class helping him with his lessons.

Luckily for Ahmet though, children are inquisitive and want to know all about him, and to be his friend. They soon discover that Ahmet is a refugee, who has travelled to London from Syria. A journey that he started with his parents and his younger sister. But now he is alone and living with a foster mum who waits at the school gate for him every day in her red headscarf.

As the children learn more about Ahmet the more they want to help him. The four of them come up with “The Greatest Idea in the World”, and then “The Emergency Plan”, to make sure Ahmet’s plight is understood by the highest powers in the country and to ask for their help.

What we thought

In a way it seems wrong to describe The Boy at the Back of the Class as a wonderful book. It’s is wonderfully written and a perfect way of teaching children about the refugee crisis and what they can do to help. It’s just awful that the situation exists in the first place.

I can see the The Boy at the Back of the Class is a book that all children should read. Much like Anne Frank’s diary. It is written in such an accessible way that my nine (just turned ten) year old loved reading it with me, but also admits that she learnt so much from it about a situation that she hadn’t fully understood from the news reports she’d seen. It certainly initiated so many valuable conversations between us.

The other thing that I loved about The Boy at the Back of the Class was the fact that you’re left guessing until quite late in the book as to whether the main viewpoint is coming from a boy or a girl. The whole point is that it does’t matter in terms of the story, but I think it’s a very clever way of helping children imagine themselves in the book.

I’d also go as far as suggesting that it’s a book all adults should read too. Especially if you’re feeling like you want to learn more about refugee children that come to the UK, or want to help your children understand more.

At the back of the book there are also some useful pages containing facts about refugees, the difference between refuges and immigrants or migrants, and also plenty of prompts to encourage children think more about what they have read and to help them try to put themselves in Ahmet’s shoes.

Where to buy The Boy at the Back of the Class

The Boy at the Back of the Class by Anjali Q. Raúf is available to buy online *here and whilst it has an RRP of £6.99 for the paperback version, at the time of writing it is available for the reduced price of £3.99.

Disclaimer: We bought our copy of The Boy at the Back of the Class. The link above marked with a * will take you to Amazon, and if you buy the book from them I will receive a small commission, but it will cost you no more than if you’d gone their on your own. Thank you for any purchases made. It is very much appreciated.