Beyond the Secret Garden Book Launch- (and a new Letterbox Library resource)

Beyond the Secret Garden: Racially Minoritised People in British Children's Books by Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'Connor

Letterbox Library were delighted to attend the launch of 'Beyond the secret Garden (BtSG): Racially Minoritised People in British Children's Books' by Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'Connor, published by the English Media Centre, at UCL in January 2025.

BtSG is an accessible and generous resource for educators, offering a comprehensive exploration and contextual knowledge of how racially minoritised people have been represented in children's literature. The book is made up of short digestible chapters which focus in on fascinating provocations such as:

• whose world is celebrated during World Book Day?

• who counts as 'English' in nonfiction?

• what do school stories tell us about society?

[See the end of this blog for details of our new Beyond the Secret Garden Book Pack or jump in here: https://www.letterboxlibrary.com/product-page/beyond-the-secret-garden-primary-key-stage-1-2-ages-5-11-24-books]

What follows is a transcript of the authors discussing Beyond the Secret Garden at their launch:

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Darren Chetty (30th January 2025)

We think our book is part of a broader project of taking children's literature seriously – and by extension taking children seriously – beyond press releases and culture wars hit pieces.

So, we're in agreement with those who emphasizes the power of children's literature – however we don't assume that power to be an unmitigated good. We agree that children's books can be magical but we're cautious about mistaking children's authors for magicians.

Likewise, we're enthusiastic supporters of the notion of 'reading for pleasure' – a more diverse offer of literature provides a greater number of entry points into this activity. But as the viral tweet from @famaleredhead goes – 'reading for pleasure implies the existence of reading for pain'. It strikes me that pain, pleasure, frustration and bewilderment were all part of my childhood reading experience and those of many of the children I taught. The so-called canon of English literature contains many works that will be painful for racially minoritised children to encounter. We as educators need to find ways that support that engagement and honour the dignity of the young reader.

It's become unfashionable in some quarters to talk about racism and antiracism. Diversity for many is a less threatening word. In many ways Diversity is about integration – or rather it's about desegregation of our social world, of the imaginative world and the workplace. But ironically Diversity itself is often in need of integration. We need to ensure we integrate what we call Diversity into all aspects of education and publishing.  It's no good having a diversity panel or initiative in your organisation and then when the topic isn't Diversity giving no thought to how you are once again operating in a secret garden, perhaps not a secret garden of your own making, but one you continue to cultivate nevertheless.

In 1980 then editor Rosemary Stones wrote a piece entitled 'who needs multi-ethnic books?' in which she wrote,

"Few of us would be so parochial as to suggest that such young people will not travel or should not be informed about British society as a whole. But the crux of the matter is this: racism in Britain today is a white problem, and, in the words of the introduction to the World Council of Churches Criteria for the Evaluation of Racism, `racism hinders both sides from a fully human experience. The victims, dominant or dominated, cannot have a normal relationship with themselves or with others. Racism destroys both parties; it dehumanizes."

An industry that produces racist caricatures is an industry that contributes toward dehumanisation.  And an industry that imagines people of colour out of existence is an industry that actively contributes toward dehumanization.

Thanks to Lucy Farfort for such a beautiful cover design- one that tells a story and provokes questions – who can ask for more than that? Everyone -  Hire Lucy for your projects!

Thank you to Andrea Reece for emailing me out of the blue and asking me to write a piece for Books for Keeps, and for being open to that piece being co-authored and actually a regular column and for paying us something. Being published in the magazine that was edited by Rosemary Stones and published Errol Lloyd, Beverley Naidoo, and Farrukh Dhondy is special. We're proud to at least attempt to build on the work of writers like these.

Finally, thank you to every author and illustrator whose work we have written about – or whose work we are still to write about. We all know that the easiest way to becomes a successful children's author is to first have a hit tv show. Failing that many of us will find ourselves being told which stories and which people are most marketable. I've heard stories of writers being advised to change their name to something easier to pronounce, to write stories about animals instead of people of colour, or to only write stories about people who share their background. Yet so many of you keep working, submitting, and trying to prise open space in the secret garden for new stories that don't fit the blueprint that was developed as both a response to, and a tool for, empire. We know that this takes resilience, creativity, ingenuity, and yes, some courage. 

We hope we have done justice to your work.

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Karen Sands-O'Conner (30th January 2025)

‘Everywhere they went they turned it into England; and everybody they met they turned English. But no place could ever really be England, and nobody who did not look exactly like them would ever be English, so you can imagine the destruction of people and land that came from that.’ (Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place, 24)

In her book, Kincaid complains about the English going beyond their secret garden to see the world, and not in fact seeing anything but England.

Going beyond the secret garden and the coziness of children’s books for me has meant following in the footsteps of the British at home and abroad, but keeping my eyes and ears wide open. Seeing Kipling’s ‘great grey green greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees’ AND Ken Wilson-Max’s Baobob forest ‘where the sun shone down through the treetops—it felt like magic’. Hearing Burnett’s Mary Lennox speak of Indians as ‘natives! They are not people—they’re servants who must salaam to you’ AND Sita Brahmachari’s Indian ayah, Lucky, sending a message to a young British Indian girl that ‘Your belief in me sets my voice free.’ Reading about Brontë’s Bertha Mason AND Catherine Johnson’s Lady Caraboo. Contrasting the silence of Bernard Ashley’s Donovan Croft with the joyful voice of Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola’s Rocket. Watching Mary Hoffman’s Grace dressing up as Mowgli, Hiawatha and Peter Pan, and Patrice Lawrence’s Ava dressing up as Winifred Atwell, Mary Seacole and her beloved grandmother. Watching Chitra Soundar’s Nikhil and Jay on the BBC! Learning British history all over again with Kandace Chimbiri, Sufiya Ahmed, David Olusoga, and Joanna Williams. Learning global history all over again with Candy Gourlay, Atinuke, Jasbinder Bilan and Rashmi Sirdeshpande. Moving from Mallory Towers to Sabine Adeyinka’s Jummy and the River School. Humming along to the music of Black Britain with Jeffrey Boakye. Experiencing the poetry of lives different from mine with Benjamin Zephaniah, Michael Rosen, Valerie Bloom, Grace Nichols, Joseph Coelho, and Dean Atta. Discovering the beauty of lives different than mine in illustrations by Angela Vivès, Diane Ewen, Errol Lloyd, Sandhya Prabhat, and Poonam Mistry. Imagining possible worlds with Lucy Farfort, Malorie Blackman, Patrice Agbabi and S. F. Said. Laughing with Zanib Mian’s Omar, fighting racism with A. M. Dassu’s Aaliyah, investigating corruption with Varsha Shah’s Ajay, creating a new round table with Alex Wheatle’s Crongton Knights. These and so many other authors taught me to see Britain—and its (former) empire anew.

Sometimes seeing and hearing in a new way requires help, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of it. I’d like to thank Keith and Gwen, first and foremost, for making me WANT to see and hear. Without them, I would not be here. Other helpers include people here tonight and people I’ve never met, including Librarians—people who brought books to me, even if I never set foot in their library. Janet Hill, Ziggi Alexander, Grace Hallworth. And those who let me be a part of their libraries in ways big and small: Anna Lobbenberg, Katie Adams, Jake Hope, and Paula Wride.

Archive people who helped me dig deeper into the stories that were already a part of my life: Sarah Lawrance, Ros Bos, and Kris McKie at Seven Stories; Sarah Garrod at George Padmore Institute; the archive staff at the Black Cultural Archives and the Schomburg in New York.

Letterbox Library’s Fen Coles and Kerry Mason, who have doubled my own archive and kept my feet pointed on a revolutionary path.

Scholars, including Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman, who introduced Darren and me; Sunny Singh who has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of racially-minoritised authors; Farrah Serroukh who is finally bringing her expertise to bless the academic world; Corinne Fowler who taught schoolchildren to see colonial racism; Melanie Ramdarshan Bold who honours the voices of authors; Devika Mehra who can turn her hand to anything as her multiple degrees attest; Aneesh Barai, Ada Bieber, and Jena Habegger-Conti who supported me when other academic institutions turned their backs; my oldest friends in children’s literature, Marietta Frank and Rod McGillis; and African-American children’s literature scholar Michelle Martin, who taught me the importance of listening—and singing.

And finally, thank you to Andrea Reece, for supporting and publishing our column.

Andrew McCallum and Lucy Webster at EMC for publishing the book and of course, endless thanks to my writing partner and friend Darren Chetty.

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Letterbox Library's Beyond the Secret Garden Book Pack

Inspired by the depth and breadth of Karen and Darren's resource, we have created a new Beyond the Secret Garden Book Pack, an essential toolkit for educators invested in creative inclusive book collections for their classrooms. The Book Pack includes:

• A copy of the resource book, Beyond the Secret Garden

• 24 Key Stage 1 + 2 books, all referenced in the resource

• A summary teacher guide from the authors

• A token giving you a discount off related teacher training from the authors

Buy it Here