KIDS’ BOOK OF THE WEEK ANTIRACIST BABY

by Ibram X Kendi, illustrations by Ashley Lukashevsky, published by Puffin, paperback £7.99 (ebook £5.99)

Ibram X Kendi is a leading voice in the fight for racial equality, and has written a children’s version of his book How To Be An Antiracist.

With cute and inclusive illustrations, it shows the simple ways little ones can be antiracist – from celebrating all our differences to confessing when they’ve been racist.

Of course, some of the issues raised will be too advanced for a baby to grasp, but the point is to start thinking about them from a young age and to challenge any unconscious biases.

The book ends with useful notes for parents and carers on how to encourage positive conversations around race from a young age, and a glossary explaining what words like ‘race’ and ‘racism’ actually mean.

With a fun rhyming scheme, it’s the perfect picture book if you want to actively raise a child as antiracist, but don’t know where to start.

LIGHT PERPETUAL by Francis Spufford, Faber & Faber, £16.99 (ebook £6.99) ★★★★I In 1944, a bomb lands on the Woolworths on Bexford High Street and five children are instantly killed - atomised in seconds.

Yet, in another timeline, the bomb never lands and Jo, Val, Vern, Alec and Ben continue living through the rest of the 20th century, and all the social, sexual and technological transformations that come with it.

They love, marry, separate, divorce and are bereaved, with five stories told through snapshots spanning sixty years. Light Perpetual is uplifting and bittersweet, and the writing reads like poetry at times.

With light woven throughout the novel, this is a moving story of missed opportunities, second chances and unfulfilled potential.