1 February 2018 I WALK WITH VANESSA: A STORY ABOUT A SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS by Kerascoët, Schwartz & Wade, April 2018, 978-1-5247-6955-0

“Madness is what you demonstrate

And that’s exactly how anger works and operates

Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight

Take control of your mind and meditate

Let your soul gravitate to the love, y’all”

-- The Black Eyed Peas, “Where is the Love?” (2003)

“There is no more neutrality in the world. You either have to be part of the solution, or you’re going to be part of the problem.”

--Eldridge Cleaver

I’m with the late Eldridge Cleaver on this.

Over the years, in writing about children’s and YA literature, I’ve frequently cited childhood incidents that scarred me and have stayed with me for forty or fifty years: the five-year-old stranger who blocked the sidewalk and told me he hated me. The thirteen-year-old who called me “faggot” and made fun of my clothes and my changing voice. The fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds who slammed me into lockers or slammed my books and looseleaf out from under my arm. The unknowns who burned down a house under construction in my neighborhood and then spray painted racial epithets on the charred remains because the house was being built for a black family.

These incidents are part of who I became, why I get involved in movements for social change, and why I want to promote a socially-conscious book like I WALK WITH VANESSA.

I WALK WITH VANESSA is a wordless picture book in comic format that features a black child whose family moves to a new neighborhood. At school, the “new kid” is initially shy and reluctant to participate. On the way home from school, a young bully confronts Vanessa on the sidewalk. We can tell by the red that surrounds the scene that the bully is spewing some pretty awful stuff.

A female classmate who is chatting with friends nearby, overhears the bullying and observes Vanessa walking home, crying. She tells her friends about it and they each walk away crestfallen.

Shaken by what she saw, the classmate spends the afternoon and evening brooding over the incident and, the next morning, she has an idea.

She races over to the house she saw Vanessa entering the previous afternoon, knocks on the door, and talks with Vanessa. The two girls depart for school holding hands. Then, beginning with the friends of the observer, scores and scores of children gradually join in, walking to school with Vanessa. The bully is ignored as a sea of smiling children pass by him.

The story is followed by two brief-but-valuable sections of advice: “For Children: How you can help someone who is being bullied,” and “For Adults: Some useful words to use when talking about this book with children.” These sections were drawn up with the assistance of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the ADL website has extensive lesson plans for using the book.

I don’t harbor illusions that I WALK WITH VANESSA will change the world. After all, back in the Sixties, those bullies I encountered all went to church on Sunday and heard about the Golden Rule. But, then again, there were plenty of impressionable young people who heard a good sermon about treating others in the manner one would like to be treated and embraced the concept.

I WALK WITH VANESSA will strike a chord with a certain number of children who may later make a difference in someone’s life as a result of having experienced this book.

These days, with so many of our neighbors being vilified because of their color,  race, ancestry, or religion, it’s essential that we and our children actively participate in trying to stop the hate and bullying. It devastates me to think of my little grandkids encountering the sorts of bullying that scarred me.

I WALK WITH VANESSA is an engaging and thought-provoking wordless tale that will serve as a resource in teaching our children well. I encourage you to read it, share it, gift it, and make sure it’s in your kid’s school library.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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