by Kristen Farrah Naeem
FROM: Signal Tribune

Jhoanna Belfer, owner of Bel Canto Books, has lined its shelves with the stories she didn’t see as a young reader, featuring main characters of color that the children of Long Beach can see themselves in.

“I think for me, that’s kind of number one on our mission,” Belfer said, “to make sure that we are offering books for our community that reflects our community. You know, I grew up as a Filipino American in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood and we didn’t have a lot of money so we didn’t go to the bookstore. But the books that I remember reading as a child, either at the library or that we’d pick up at a garage sale were almost always [by] Caucasian authors– which I loved E.B. White. Trumpet of the Swan and Charlotte’s Web are two books I absolutely adore– and a lot of the children’s books that I read when I was a kid featured white characters, and I think that was just a function of the times. But now with so many authors and illustrators of color who are out there, I just feel like if we don’t do it, who else is going to?”

Children’s picture books at Bel Canto Books include Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore; Ways To Make Sunshine by Renee Watson; I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes; My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero and many other titles with Asian, Black and Latinx children as main characters.

“We’ve heard so much positive feedback from our customers and people who will literally say to me, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve never seen this many books for Asian kids in one place. I’ve never seen this many books for Latino kids in one place,” Belfer said. “And so that’s really important to us. I don’t think it’s something that you can quantify or measure, but I think that when you’re able to see yourself on the cover of a book or in a TV show, or as a president, it reinforces the idea that you can be that, you can do those things. You know, even if you’re a poor kid from a bad neighborhood.”

Belfer arrived in the United States when she was four years old, after a year of being separated from both her parents as they established themselves in California while she remained in the Phillipines. Read Rest of Article Here