Visit to Politics and Prose

Mini Research #2 Observations in a Local Bookstore

The bookstore I visited was Politics & Prose located in Northwest D.C. My visit coincided with the toddler story hour so I was unable to spend much time in the easy reader, picture book section. However, I did spend time browsing in the non-fiction and juvenile fiction areas. There were many books representing diverse cultures and social issues. I found most of these books in non-fiction areas. Books are displayed in brightly labeled sections such as Sports, Holidays, Parenting, Science, Poetry, Art, Geography, Biography, World Religion, Juvenile Fiction and entire section devoted to Ramadan. I found that the authorship was as diverse as the cultures represented in the books.

Some of the books that touched on social issues and cultural diversity were:

What the World Eats by Faith D’Aluisio
This book presents family photographs from around the world. In the photos, families are positioned next to all the groceries they eat in a week. Each chapter discusses the cost of the food in that country and how people transport it and buy it. This book represents a diverse group of cultures through a simple topic.

A School Like Mine: A Unique Celebration of Schools Around the World by UNICEF
This book presents images and information about many schools around the world. Some of the countries represented are Ireland, Peru, China, Egypt and Canada.

Prita Goes to India by Prodepta Das
This story describes a young girl’s trip to India to visit relatives. There are many photographs of Indian life.

Snow Fallng in Spring: Coming of Age in China During the Cultural Revolution by Moying Li
Moying Li describes how she fled from her private school during the Cultural Revolution to the countryside. While in the country, she escapes the communist takeover by burying herself in classic literature but the Maoists begin to destroy all the books.

My Heart Glow: Alice Cogswell, Thomas Gallaudet and the Birth of American Sign Language by Emily Arnold McCully
After struggling to teach Alice Cogswell, a young deaf girl, basic reading and writing. Thomas Gallaudet travels to Europe to find a way to help deaf students communicate. When he returns from Europe, he sets up a school where he and his students develop American Sign Language together.





Poetry for Young People by Langston Hughes
This collection of Langston Hughes poems has striking illustrations and depicts American life during the Great Depression and Harlem Renaissance. Some of the poems in the book are: “Sue Wears Red” and “Mother to Son.”

Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Legend by Tanya Lee Stone
The author describes Ella Fitzgerald’s success as a jazz singer as well the discrimination she faced on the road, especially in the Segregated South.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Is the story on a young girl hoping to find her estranged mother while she goes on a week-long car trip with her grandparents to Idaho.

The White Nights of Ramadan by Maha Addasi
This is a fictional story about a family celebrating Ramadan. The illustrations show how a Muslim family spends time together during this holiday period.

Some of the books that I felt stereotyped were:

Famous Movie Wedding Gowns by Tom Tierney. I have to admit I really enjoyed looking at this paper doll book but I do think it was geared to the “princess” audience.

The Daring Book For Girls by Miriam Peskowitz and The Dangerous Book For Boys by Hal Iggulden are reference books about a range of topics. Some of the chapters for girls were how to jump rope, play cards (hearts and gin), press flowers and negotiate a salary.

Topics for boys were how to tie knots, fish, play poker and perform coin tricks. Two of the chapters were entitled “The Golden Age of Piracy” and “Famous Battles.” The publisher did not have a section on how to negotiate salary for boys.



The books in the store were accessible to everyone who can speak and read English. It is a family-friendly space where young children and their parents would like to stay awhile and read stories. (Some places are not very accessible to families with young children.) One thought I had was that there were not a lot of books in Spanish. Given D.C.’s large Hispanic population, I found this surprising. Washington is an international city and I think the store grasps the need to appeal to a diverse population. However, their Spanish language resources were limited.