Little readers can find big issues — from racism to mental health— in picture books

Young readers are taking on some big topics covered in children’s books: racial injustices, incarceration and houselessness, to name a few.

And this isn’t a new concept. Juanita Giles, head of the Virginia Children's Book Festival, recounts a memory of watching Reading Rainbow and seeing the 1983 book “Tight Times” by Barbara Shook Hazen, in which a parent loses their job and the family faces food insecurity.

Today’s children's books reflect what’s happening in the country and current national conversations. Books touch on everything from racial violence to debates over the Confederate flag in ways that children can digest and apply to their own lives.

“Children's books give parents and caregivers the opportunity to start a conversation that they may not have otherwise,” Giles says. “It encourages children to ask questions of their parents.”