As a little boy grows into a bigger boy, ready to take on the world, he must first have that difficult conversation, all too familiar to so many Black Americans, about living in a world where racism is ready to take on YOU... Jay is Mr. Energy. He's full of life and spirit and just wants to spend time with his friends. He thinks Grandma's kisses and pinches on the cheek are gross (even though he kind of likes them), he thinks his dad's car is really cool, and he loooooves it when his mom measures it and sees how much higher the pencil marks on the wall can go. But as those height marks slowly get higher, Grandpa warns him about riding in groups that are too large with his friends. And though Grandma won't stop pinching his cheeks, it's sad now—she's afraid that other people won't think it's so cute now that he's older. And then Dad tells Jay how to act if the police ever pull them over while driving that really cool car. And Jay just wants to be a kid. What Jay doesn't know is that this is the beginning of The Talk. The talk every Black and brown kid needs to have. The talk that could mean the difference between life and death and how to survive in a racist world. Told in an age-appropriate way, with a perfect pause for parents to insert their own conversations with their kids to accompany the illustrations, The Talk is the perfect entry into a conversation that EVERY kid needs to have so that, one day, it won't be necessary anymore.
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