Lupita Nyong’o’s New York Times bestselling children’s book Sulwe tells the story of a young girl who struggles with her dark skin. In 2019, Nyong’o told Good Morning America that, as a child, she’d “thought that in order to make it into the pages of books, you had to be light”, she said. “It took a while for me to learn to love the skin I’m in,” she added. “I wrote this book to help little kids get there a little faster.”
2. Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle holding a copy of her book The Bench. Photo: @royalsussexwindsors.__/Instagram
The Duchess of Sussex released a children’s book back in 2021 called The Bench. “I wrote this as a poem for my husband and our son Archie, then turned it into a book so that you could enjoy it too,” she said in an introduction on Brightly Storytime before reading it aloud. The book is dedicated to Prince Harry and their son with the opening words: “For the man and the boy who make my heart go pump-pump.”
Pages from Meghan Markle’s book, The Bench. Photo: @dukeandduchessofsussexdaily/Instagram
3. Kevin Hart
Marcus Makes it Big by Kevin Hart is about “a young boy who has big Hollywood dreams”. Photos: @kevinhart4real/Instagram, Random House Books
During pandemic quarantine, comedian Kevin Hart decided to knuckle down and write an illustrated series about a little boy pursuing big dreams. The two books released so far – Marcus Makes it Big and Marcus Makes a Movie – are part of his attempt to “give back”, he told NPR. He also admitted that his children were part of his development process: “Seeing the world through their eyes now is … it’s a fun thing.”
4. Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman’s Fables came out in October 2020. Photo: @natalieportman/Instagram
Like Hart, Portman was prompted to release a book called Fables in October 2020 after spending time at home with her kids during the pandemic. The book features retellings of three classic children’s animal tales: The Tortoise and the Hare, Three Little Pigs and Country Mouse and City Mouse. Portman told Good Morning America she wanted to “[update] the morals of the story to be relatable to our time”.
5. Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is well known for being a magic fanatic – and his children’s book shows this. Photo: @nph_ir/Instagram
Neil Patrick Harris’The Magic Misfits series follows a group of young magicians using their skills to save a town from villains. The How I Met Your Mother star (and magic obsessive) told Innovation & Tech Today that he wanted to tell kids to be themselves. “I thought [the books] would honour magic, but also encourage and inspire kids to think that the things that make them unique are awesome,” he said.
6. Madonna
Madonna and her children’s book, The English Roses. Photo: Reuters
Back when Madonna was living a genteel, settled life in London with then-husband Guy Ritchie, it seemed apt that she released a series of wholesome, illustrated children’s books. Titled The English Roses, they are centred around four little girls. Madonna went on to write no fewer than 12 in total.
7. Whoopi Goldberg
The Sister Act star Whoopi Goldberg has also written children’s books. Photo: @blacktheatreonline/Instagram
The actress began releasing her Sugar Plum Ballerinas series of children’s books in 2008 and kept going until 2012. “I want everybody to know about them because they’re great stories for girls, and they’re fun,” Goldberg said on The View in 2022.
The Sugar Plum Ballerinas series by Whoopi Goldberg contains six books. Photo: @blueknightbookshop/Instagram
8. Lil Nas X
The Old Town Road singer and rapper Lil Nas X’s book is highly rated on Amazon. Photos: @lilnasx, @helpingkidsrise/Instagram
In 2021, the “Old Town Road” singer decided to release a cute ABCs picture book for toddlers called C is For Country, with colourful illustrations and empowering examples like “S is for Swagger” and “E is for Everybody”, because “we can all share the shine”. Lil Nas X put his inimitable stamp on his book and scored 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon for his efforts.
South China Morning Post
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