Whitewash

Whitewash
(Click Title To Order)
by Ntozake Shange
Illustrated by Michael Sporn
(36 pages, picture book)
Published by Walker and Company, New York
Ages 7-10

Summary: Playwright, novelist, poet Ntozake Shange turns her attention to children’s literature, and offers readers a tough lesson on racism and hate crimes.

What begins as a typical school day in Brooklyn, New York turns into a nightmare for grade-schooler Helene-Angel and her big brother, Mauricio, in this unusual children’s tale by award-winning playwright, novelist, and poet, Ntozake Shange. Loosely based on incidents that took place in the Bronx, where young black children were attacked by white gangs and spray-painted white, Whitewash is as emotionally compelling as any Shange work. A cultural icon whose choreo-poem, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf pushed the envelope in ways 1970’s funkified America had not witnessed before, Shange is probably not the first name that comes to mind when thinking of children’s literature. Nonetheless, Whitewash, her first original children’s work (the collaboration with artist Romare Bearden notwithstanding), is certainly deserving of the attention of parents and educators, as Shange dares to take young readers to a place adults would rather not go.

I must confess that when I learned that Shange had written a children’s book, I was more skeptical than surprised--surprised that she would choose to write a children’s book, despite her successes, and skeptical at her ability to do so. Don’t misunderstand me. Shange is a powerful writer armed with a genius for words. She’s written numerous theatrical pieces, three novels, and her poems have filled volumes. My initial concerns centered around the matter of sensitivity. After all, racism and hate crimes are sticky subjects that even us grown-ups can’t quite grasp, and kids? Call me na�ve, because I really doubted that youngsters would fully appreciate Whitewash. But reading this work with my child changed me, and I am glad to say, for myself and my seven year old daughter, that I did not give in to my first instinct as the protective, sheltering parent to pass this one up.

But parents be forewarned, Whitewash is grim—not of the Brothers Grim fairy tale variety. It is of the stuff that makes the evening news and forces you to buy a busload of black books, and, it is certainly not a bedtime story, not the stuff that sweet dreams are made of. But as is often the case, my seven year taught me a valuable lesson that I will not soon forget: that children are seldom as na�ve as we may think and that as parents, one of the most valuable things we can do for our children is to listen.

Ntozake Shange’s new work is no bedtime story—and parents should not treat it as such. It covers subject matter that is usually tackled in YA books. Clearly Shange doesn’t feel that racism is too tough a subject for young minds—and I agree. As with most issues, this will have to be judgement call for parents, as each parent should consider the maturity level and background of their child; however, I encourage each of you to go out and take a look at this work. In a genre filled with books that entertain and spark the imaginations of young people, Ntozake Shange has offered parents and educators an invaluable resource: an opportunity to talk candidly with our children about the world they live in.