A Kentucky mom couldn't find a Christmas story about a brown boy. So she wrote her own
Sitting comfortably in his mother's embrace, Nick Cummings, 11, holds a book in his lap, pointing to the pages filled with illustrations of a little boy whose features mirror his own: big brown eyes, a box cut of curly black hair and a sweet, charming smile.
He opens to his favorite part in the story, when the character organizes a job fair and toy drive to help a classmate in need. Nick points to the book's dedication on the front page, where he's quoted: "I like this book because it makes me feel like Christmas. And I like feeling like Christmas."
From the sofa in his family's living room near Middletown, Kentucky, Nick says Christmas feels "warm and comfy and cozy."
It feels like family.
The book in his hands was written by Nick's mother, Deedee. It's about a boy who saves Christmas – a common enough storyline – but this one is different. After years of collecting children's Christmas books, Deedee Cummings couldn't find one with a character who looked like her son. She knew how important it was for her son to see a character he could admire.
So she wrote her own.
"In the Nick of Time" is inspired by Nick. The book's protagonist, Nick Saint, is fiery, kind, thoughtful and full of life, Cummings says. Just like the real-life Nick, he lives a very fortunate life, his mother says.
In the story, Nick's biggest worry is waiting for the mailman to deliver his new video game, until he accidentally receives a letter addressed to Santa Claus from a student at his school named Cooper, whose only Christmas wish is for his mother to find a job.
Although the book's illustrations feature a young boy of color, the story doesn't directly address race. It doesn't need to, Cummings says.
"It's just about the holidays and about recognizing when you have blessings and to be grateful for them," Cummings says. "Nick comes to realize that Christmas is not just about getting gifts, it's about helping people and recognizing those around you who are in need."
That message is important for young boys, she says.
"It's the images that burn in children's minds and stay with them," Cummings says. "They don't understand racial inequality, or even why a diverse book is necessary, but they know how they feel when they see a character that looks like them save the day.
"My child has a right to feel like a hero, too," she says.
As a mother raising a young black boy in the USA, Cummings says she feels like she constantly combats negative images.
"I want Nick to know that the world doesn't look at him like a thug – he's only 11 years old. ... One year from now, he'll be the same age as Tamir Rice," she says, referring to the 12-year-old black boy who was shot and killed by a police officer in Cleveland in 2014.
Cummings dedicated the book to her son, and boys like him, who she wants the world to see.
"I want Nick to be seen as fun and friendly and kind and happy like he is in this book," she says. "Not as a menace or negative member of the community."
Nick says this is one of the first books he has read with a character like him.
"I like the book because it shows the good in the world and what good people can do," Nick says. "It feels, I guess, different because I don't really see a lot of books in my school with kids who look like me."
"In the Nick of Time" isn't Cummings' first book inspired by her children. The Louisville native has published 10 other stories, two of them about her older children, who are 22 and 27 years old.
"Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess" is a story about how Cummings struggled as a working mom, afraid that her daughter, Kayla, would resent her hours away from home. She realizes that her daughter learned how to be an independent woman who followed her dreams, just like her mother. "My Dad's Job" is about her son Anthony, who often asked his father, Cummings' husband, "When are you going to teach me how to be a man?" without realizing that every day, his dad was showing him how to take care of the home and the family.
Cummings, a private practice therapist, started writing children's books after she spent years as a counselor for children in the foster care system. She helped children write their own stories and told them they were in control of their narrative.
"I told them they might not be in control of the next home they go to or having to pack their belongings in a trash bag by Friday, but that 'you can write the last chapter,' " she says.
This Christmas, the Cummings will help others in need, just like Nick Saint in Deedee's book. Their living room will be filled with toys the family will deliver to children. After a big dinner Christmas Eve, Nick and his dad, Anthony, will set out cookies and milk for Santa Claus on the fireplace above the stockings.
In the morning, when there's only a gulp of milk left in the glass and each cookie has one bite mark, Nick will wonder, like he does every year, why Santa didn't just eat two cookies and "save the rest for others."
'IN THE NICK OF TIME'
WHAT: “In the Nick of Time” written by Deedee Cummings and illustrated by Charlene Mosley. In the story, Nick has been engrossed in his video games lately, and he's developed a bit of a careless attitude. When he gets annoyed with the postal worker for delivering a letter to the wrong address, everything changes. Was the letter really delivered by mistake? Or was it delivered to Nick Saint to help him learn about what life is like for others who are less fortunate and might not have a great Christmas like Nick is looking forward to?
COST: $18.95 paperback
WHERE YOU CAN BUY THE BOOK: Amazon and deedeecummings.com
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: A Kentucky mom couldn't find a Christmas story about a brown boy. So she wrote her own
Comments
Post a Comment