Taye Diggs to Release Children’s Book About Racial Injustice and Social Activism on Feb. 1

This combination photo shows cover art for “Why” a children’s book written by Taye Diggs (pictured) and illustrated by Shane W. Evans. / AP

In a powerful new book for children, a little girl looks at a crowd of street protesters and asks: Why are those people marching? A few pages later, a child asks her family: Why are buildings burning?

“Why?: A Conversation About Race” by actor Taye Diggs with illustrations by Shane W. Evans is an unvarnished look at social activism from the eyes of Black children as they struggle to understand demands for change. It comes out Feb. 1 from Macmillan’s Feiwel and Friends imprint.

“I needed to be honest,” Diggs says in an interview with his illustrator. “And sometimes being honest and real can be uncomfortable. And I think that that’s OK.”

The book portrays a series of questions from kids posed to adults. One is: Why are people crying near a makeshift memorial? “Our people are crying because we are in pain,” comes the answer. Another question asks why are protestors shouting. An adult explains: “Our people are shouting because we need to be heard.”

Evans’ expressive drawings show each child’s face change from worry to understanding as they digest what they hear from loved ones. His protesters hold banners and signs but they are blank — a nod to the sad timelessness of the fight for racial justice.

“I think the beauty of the words and the pictures together is that there’s a way to kind of speak above the fray,” says Evans, who was inspired in his drawings by deep talks with his daughter in their car.

While the book ends on a hopeful note, Diggs and Evans do not shy away from discussing that some protests have ended with burning buildings. “Sometimes buildings must burn,” an adult says. “The buildings burn for us. The anger burning those buildings is us.”

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SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Kennedy