Books with Color

About us: Books of Color-- an Author's Alliance, is a community of creatives driven to promote diversity via access to inclusive reading materials in the home and classroom, so children everywhere feel represented in the books they read. We believe children of all colors should grow up with a wide array of books featuring children of all colors. 

Our mission: To increase the accessibility of inclusive and bi-lingual children's reading materials via strategic partnerships between diversity driven authors and the communities who support them.

Our vision: To provide all children ample access to age-appropriate reading materials featuring diverse characters and situations that more accurately reflect the world we live in. 

Welcome to Books with Color! This alliance is a fusion of passion of two Charlotte-based children's book authors-- Kristi Cruise and Lawrence Gordon. Cruise and Gordon  believe diversity in the children's book industry is imperative to a thriving and successful  society. Cruise worked for a decade in children's book distribution, where in a given month, more than 10,000 donated children's books came through the operations system to go back out to children who need them. Of those 10,000 books, less than 200 of them on average, or less than 2%, were books featured bi-lingual text or children of color on the cover. At the same time, Lawrence Gordon, was realizing a similar story with his own kids, as not nearly enough books were readily available to help his three children see themselves as the heroes and the princesses, or their father's as the strong African American father-figures they were. He new something needed to be done, so he began writing. 

Book with Color is partnering with Living Libraries to provide additional diverse and bilingual books to the 1,000 Classroom Kits that will go out via Classroom Central this 2020-21 school year. Not only do these empowering kits give teachers in a 16-county surrounding Charlotte everything they need to be successful in transforming their entire classroom full of children into self-proclaimed Living Libraries, they also give up to 25,000 children access to multicultural books such as Unicorn Dreams, The Dad, The Bully and The Orange Ball, The LiLi Key and so much more. Together we raise funds to support local diversity authors and provide inclusive, multicultural books to children in public and charter schools. 

Contact Us at info@living-libraries.com:

• If you would like to sponsor Books with Color on a corporate level with a tax-deductible donation of $1,000 or more.

• If you are an author who would like your books to be featured in  Classroom Kits as part of our Books with Color--Author's Alliance Initiative.

• If you are a teacher who would like to request a Living Libraries Classroom Kit for your classroom. 

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram #BookswithColor 

We are #DiversityDriven!