22x03 - More Than Peach

[bunniefuu]

Kids,

[Music]

take a look. It's in a book. A reading

rainbow.

[Music]

Hi, welcome to Reading Rainbow. I'm

Michael the librarian and this place is

the library.

[Music]

People tend to be very quiet at a

library. That's because some people are

trying to read here. But libraries are

also a place for talking. One of my

favorite rooms in a library is a

children's room because it's usually

filled with joy and laughter. And the

front desk is usually noisy with people

checking out books. Some libraries have

cafes where you can make a new friend.

And that's never a quiet thing. When I

make friends, I get loud. So, libraries

are actually a great place for

expressing yourself.

Sorry, expressing yourself. So, yes,

libraries are known for being quiet, but

they're also places for speaking out.

Come with me, friends.

The book we're reading today is about a

girl who was brave enough to speak out.

She saw something in her classroom that

didn't feel right. So, she decided to do

something about it and make a change.

Not only did she make that change, she

wrote a book all about it. At 9 years

old, Bellon Wooders wrote a story about

speaking out and turned it into this

book, More Than Peach.

More than peach. Written by Bellen

Woodard. Narrated by Gabrielle Union.

Rise and shine, sunshine, is my wakeup

call. But just for a moment, my eyes

cling to last night's dreams, not yet

ready to leave them behind. My mornings

are filled with smiles and a bump here

and there.

We rush in the busyiness the morning

brings. Being with my brothers is sort

of like gazing into a mirror. Their

faces reflect mine. Shades of the world

with the same warm and curious eyes.

I sigh when I wave goodbye.

My brother's reflections disappear and

leave only me. But just one me is more

than enough. And I make so much of it.

Sometimes we might trip up, but we have

friends to catch us. School is a home

away from home. And when at home, we

learn to grow.

Does anyone have the skin color crayon?

My friend asks.

Some call it the skin color crayon. I've

heard it many times before. But this

time, when I pass the peachcoled crayon

to him,

something in me feels different.

Can someone pass me the skin color

crayon? Another friend asks later. The

question rings through the room.

This question didn't seem to bother my

teachers or my friends.

Why was I the only one feeling confused?

My mom and I celebrate the day. We share

lots of stories and giggles. I also tell

her about the skin color crayon

language. I explain that even though the

question puzzles me, I always pass the

peach crayon.

Well, our skin color is brown. So, next

time, why not just hand over the brown

crayon instead? Mom says, "But that

doesn't feel right either."

"I think for a while, and the idea hits

me."

"No, Mom. Instead, I'll ask what color

they want." I answer, "Because it could

be any number of beautiful colors." And

so, the next time that question rings

out, I reply, "Which one?" Skin can be

any number of beautiful colors. Oh yeah,

I meant the peach color, my friend says.

Suddenly, I realized that if this friend

could understand, maybe my other friends

could too. Again and again, I get asked

the same question again and again, I

reply the same way. Gently, knowingly,

trying to change the language until I

finally hear an echo. My teacher replies

just the way I did. Of course, she says,

"What crayon color would you like?

Because skin tones can be any number of

beautiful colors.

I had been the spark and now my whole

classroom is lit up. It's so important

that your space is brilliant, just like

you. Soon the new language rippled

through the school. If I can make such a

big change here, I can also make it

happen at other schools. I put my idea

to paper and my family helps me plan.

Growing isn't always easy. Change is a

team effort.

And the bigger your team, the faster

change happens.

I lead the way and ask my friends,

school, and whole community for help.

All around the world, the language is

changing. Minds are growing. And we will

keep going until the world knows we're

more, much more than peach. We're each.

Together, we can show the world the

power of kidhood. One crayon at a time.

And now it's time for a game of what can

you remember? You got this.

What question did Bellon's friend ask

her while they were coloring? A. Does

anyone have the skin colored crayon? B.

Did you do anything fun this weekend? C.

Can you pass the gravy?

What do you think?

[Music]

It's a the friend asked for a skin

colored crayon. Here's our second

question.

The next time Bellan's friend asked her

for the skin colored crayon, how did she

respond? A. No. B. She started doing a

funny dance. C. Which one? Skin can be

any number of beautiful colors.

You can do it.

[Music]

It's C. Bellon asked her friend to name

which color they wanted.

Last question. Bellon led the way in

creating change with the help of A. Her

family, friends, and community. B, her

pet Hower monkey. C, no one. She does it

all on her own.

Do you know

[Music]

it's a Bellon gets help from her family,

her friends, and her whole community.

Change is a group effort.

Great job.

When Bellon's classmate talked about

skin colored crayons, she felt confused.

Why did he ask that when skin can be any

number of beautiful colors? But all it

took was Bellan asking one simple

question to introduce a better way of

talking about crayons. Have you ever

been in a situation like Bellan where

something didn't feel fair or it left

you feeling confused? What's something

you think should change in the world

today? We'll take a look at both those

questions with Bellon herself.

[Music]

Melon Woodard is the main character in

the book More Than Peach. She's also its

real life kid author. More than Peach is

a book Bellon wrote about an experience

of hers in school when a classmate asked

her for a skin colored crayon. Not only

did she turn that experience into a

book, she also started a crayon business

to make more crayon colors available to

kids everywhere. So, today we're going

to see what it's like to be a leader in

your community when you're still a kid.

Let's visit our new good friend, Bellen

Woodard.

[Music]

Hi, my name is Bellen Woodard and I am

14 years old and I'm a dancer and I love

to travel. But aside from all of that,

I'm also a business owner and a CEO of

my business, Melon's More Than Peach

Project. I'm the world's first Korean

activist. And since I launched my brand,

I now have my first book, More Than

Peach, and recently, a month ago, I have

my second book, Ballet Brown. When I

first made my first book, More Than

Peach, and I was advocating for

inclusion in crayons, I feel like that

itself and changing the language has

always been just about how we include

every color. So, my goal for More Than

Peach is to encourage youth leadership

and empathy and not only young people,

but really in everyone. I wanted more

than Peach to show that we are advocates

and that your voice really matters. And

so if you use your voice, you never know

how many other people you're helping.

This is my office. I have a bunch of

things people have sent to me over the

years. So I have like this little Bellon

thing that was made out of my crayons

and that's so cool. Somebody painted

that for me. So I always I keep all of

those relics um letters from little

kids. These are some of my most recent

letters that I've gotten from a

beautiful classroom. I just love getting

things from the classroom because this

whole thing started in the classroom. So

these letters mean a lot to me. I

started the company back in 2020 when I

was in elementary school. I had to

juggle things like school and dance and

lots of other things. Makes me feel good

that I have such a great support system

and that I know that I'm not alone in

this and that it doesn't have to be

overwhelming and that I have people that

moderates that and allows me to live my

life and all the other things that are

important. This is one of my best

friends, Elise, and we're both dancers

and we're on the same dance team. My

dance room is where I encourage myself

to be the best version of myself and the

best dancer I can be.

We're just practicing some of our tricks

since it's summertime and it's very

important for us to keep working on it

even when we don't have those normal

hours of dance.

[Music]

These are my little baby shoes. Like my

absolute baby shoes. Probably my some of

my first pairs. You could see I did.

It's called pancaking. And you put

foundation on your shoe and then it

changes the color of the shoe. But it

doesn't always work. And I ended up

actually ruining some of my point shoes

from doing it cuz it is absorbs. And

that was because that they didn't have

the point shoes in my color. And it's

unfortunate. we shouldn't have to make

extra extra trips just so we can get the

color that we need.

I feel like it shouldn't be that way and

that you should be able to get your

shoes and tights at all the local

places, too.

So, the reason why I decided to create

the term ballet brown was because when

ballet first started in Europe,

the pink was made to blend with the

dancers with the lighter tones cuz

everybody had that tone. and it gave the

effect that you're flowing and that

there was a line between your arms and

your legs. But as other people started

joining ballet over the years, not

everybody had the light skin tone. And

if your legs don't match with your arms,

then the line is already broken. And so

that's why I decided to not only name my

book Ballet Brown, but to also coin the

term ballet brown to show that ballet

brown is here and it's just as much as a

thing as ballet pink. And it's not only

just a term, but it's also just a new

mindset that we're growing and we have

to grow as society grows. As someone who

has been dancing since I was two, I feel

like it's definitely is a confidence

booster because if you feel good in what

you're wearing, then that just makes

your dancing 10 times better.

Um, speaking of all your point shoes, I

have my point shoe fitting soon.

Okay, let's go. Hi. I'll go get ready. I

have an event at the library for ballet

brown.

[Music]

[Applause]

I'm really not.

Hey guys, I am at Ashford Public Library

and I have my first book signing/book

reading event locally for Ballet Brown

and I'm not very used to it, but I see

my name over there and I think that's

pretty cool.

[Music]

Thank you all for coming out to Ashford

Library. You may already know about

Bellon. Bellon is an accomplished author

of two books, an innovator, a CEO.

Thank you. I'm I'm super excited to do

this again. Since I've launched the

brand, I've gotten to meet so many cool

people and I've got to travel the world

and travel to so many cool places and

with cool people as well. I've gotten to

meet people like Kelly Clarkson,

Michelle Obama, Simone Biles, and so

many other people. I've gotten to travel

the world while meeting kids and people

and change the language. And that was

exactly what I wanted for it to not only

reach just here, but everywhere.

All right, moving up into the to the

current day, we have this new project.

So, Ballet Brown isn't only my new book

title, but it's also a new term and a

new mindset that I coined.

Now, tell me, why is this project so

important to you? The project is

important to me because, and this is a

message to parents, when you're starting

your kids down in ballet, it's important

because if you start them out on the

right foot and automatically put them in

the color that suits them, then from the

very beginning, they don't have those

questions. Well, what's off about me

versus the rest of my friends? Why is

there a disconnect for me? But my

friends, there is no disconnect. And so,

it eliminates those questions and the

uncertainty and it gives you a

confidence boost from the very

beginning.

[Music]

So, it's been a very long day, but it's

been a really cool experience. I saw a

bunch of new faces, and that was really

cool. I also love seeing people I know

cuz whenever I do these events, it's

always either in another state or

another country. So, it was really cool

to see familiar faces and and yeah, I

see the support for my own community. So

yeah, good day. So I'll see you later

and I'll see you soon.

Bellon is a kid in a world of adults,

but here I am an adult in a chair for

kids. I bet Bellon is more comfortable.

But at the end of the day, Bellin is

still like any member in society and has

the ability to make change just like all

of us, including you. You can make your

impact felt in your community just like

Bellon did. Remember, Bellon started out

small, speaking up in her classroom.

Even that still takes courage so you can

start small, too. And we're going to

show you how with an easy way to help

make the world a better place. Cool

postcards.

[Music]

In the book More Than Peach, author Bell

& Woodard wrote about how she spoke up

about a problem and made real change in

her community. That's activism. When you

see a problem and you work to change it,

activism can be big, like saving a

rainforest. That's really big. But

activism can start small, too, like

sending a postcard to a local leader.

Today, we're going to find something we

each care about and take one small step

in making the world a better place with

homemade postcards. Here we go. I am so

excited for today. But before we get

started, let's introduce ourselves. My

name is Michael and your name is

Nia.

Nice to meet you.

Vivian.

Vivian.

Liam.

Liam.

Davis.

Avis. Wonderful all new library friends.

Are we ready for our craft?

Yes.

Awesome. We are going to be making some

postcards and they are all about

activism. Do you guys have any idea what

activism is?

It's an act of kindness to help the

world and protect it.

It is like saving the world. Activism is

taking a step and supporting a change

for something that you care about. So

what we're going to do is we are going

to create these postcards keeping in

mind what would you change about the

world? What matters to you? Yeah. Let's

get started. Let's start coloring. Any

ideas? What what do you guys want to

change about the world?

I want world peace.

World peace. Beautiful thing to want.

What do you envision with world peace?

Um, no one's fighting, no one's crying,

no one's hitting each other, everyone's

having a good time.

Nice, man. I love that. Anybody else?

I would want the president to ban the

zoo. I believe that animals should be

out in the nature. I don't think they

should be locked up in cages.

So, you would support change for the

betterment of animals?

Yeah.

Wow. That's activism. That is a big

thing to try to make a change. It takes

a lot to get there. You have to be

brave. It is a hard thing to do and

that's okay. That's why we're starting

small.

[Music]

What are you working on?

Saving the earth.

Saving the earth. I love that. What did

you draw on the front? Can I see it?

Just save the earth. That's exactly what

you said. Straight to the point. That's

perfect.

Now it's time to talk to an expert.

Are you ready to talk to an actual

activist?

Yes.

All right. All right. Let's talk to our

activist. Hi.

Hi, Michael.

What's your name?

Blair Ammani.

What do you do?

I make a show on the internet called

Smarter in Seconds where I help people

get smarter in seconds about a variety

of topics.

Do you have any any questions for

activist?

How do you become an activist?

Becoming an activist is actually very

easy. Basically, what you do is you sit

down or you can stand up and you try to

figure out something that's wrong in the

world or something that makes you very

passionate. For me, that started with

education. And I learned that there were

girls in a school in Mali, which is a

country in Africa, that couldn't go to

school because they didn't have enough

money. And so, I think I was 8 years old

and I did a bake sale with my friends

and we raised money to help those girls

go to school. And boom, I was an

activist. Because being an activist

basically means taking action. Wow. Does

it matter what you do to be an activist?

It does matter a little bit. Typically,

if you're doing activism, you want to do

something positive instead of negative.

But there are all different types of

actions that you can do. Sometimes when

we think about activism, we think of

protesting and getting in the streets.

But that's only one of very, very many

ways. You can do other things like write

letters to people who are in charge and

let them know what you want to say or

give them a phone call. You can also

raise money. There's so many people who

need help in the world and when we

decide to take action to help them,

that's also activism.

Oh, thanks,

Davis. Any questions?

How do you turn into a president?

Ooh, so turning into a president

actually takes a lot of steps. First, in

the United States, you have to have been

born in the United States. You have to

be 35 years old and you need a lot of

people's support because they have to

elect you into office. Typically, if you

want to be a president, but this isn't

always what happens, what you do is you

start at a local office. maybe being in

local city council. They might run for

governor or mayor and then they rise

through the ranks and then when they

decide they want to run for office, they

announce to everyone that they're

running for office and then there's a

whole bunch of debates and hoopla and

then people decide, hm, who am I going

to vote for? And if enough people vote

for you, that helps the president become

the president.

Great.

I have a question. How would you inspire

young budding activists?

Hm, that's a good question, Michael. I

think that so many young people already

are passionate about different things

and sometimes they might need a pat on

the back or permission to do those

things. So what I would say is that you

don't have to wait to grow up. You can

take action right now. There are so many

things that we care about in the world.

And sometimes what we need to do is have

a conversation with our local librarian

or a trusted adult in our life to be

able to figure out and brainstorm what

kind of actions that we can take. So, I

hope that you know that you probably

already know what to do and it's just a

matter of getting the tools and the

education and the right books to get

there.

Thanks so much. Bye

bye everyone.

Where do we write the person's

Oh, the name is always going to be You

can either write it above there or you

can just put it over there. Whichever

you prefer.

I got it. Thank you.

Of course. Find the address of someone

who can help. maybe a principal, a

mayor, or a community leader, and write

their name and address on the right side

of the postcard.

I do not know the president's address.

Write them a short message on the front

left side. Tell them what you care about

and what you hope they'll do.

I wrote to the president, "Please ban

zoos. If you don't, please replace real

animals with robot animals. I want real

animals to be free in their habitats."

My postcards are all about equality and

peace. My first one says that we should

have peace on our earth. The other one

says equality on the front. And please

let people be completely equal, black

and white together as one on the other

side. So I wrote this to my mom because

I really want her to help me. What I

wrote to her is don't litter. First of

all, it can spread to the wildlife and

can cause them to sadly pass away.

What I wrote on my postcard is save the

earth and I also drew the earth. And

when I wrote was, Barack Obama, can you

help me save the earth? If you will,

I'll appreciate.

All right, we are almost done with our

postcards. We are activists, but to send

off the postcards, we need some stamps.

Are you guys ready for a stamp?

Yeah.

Awesome. Here we go.

A lot of stamps.

That's a lot of stamps. stuff. All

right. So, there's your stamp.

I need two

two stamps.

Yeah, because I made two clip postcards.

Two times a change. We can all do this

at home. Anybody can do this project

with a responsible grown-up. We're all

making change. We're all capable. We did

it. We created our postcards. We're

activists. Would you please give me your

postcard so I can make sure they get

mailed off to the right people? Thank

you very much.

Thank you. Beautiful. Wonderful. Thank

you. I'm going to keep this last one

because I haven't finished it.

Awesome. Thank you.

Maybe you'll get a responsible grown to

help you instead of me.

Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome. Okay.

But if I ever find you walking around,

then I still have this postcard. It's

being sent to you.

Then I can help you out. Okay. We're

going to get these postcards mailed off.

Thank you so much for joining us. You

did a wonderful job.

I dropped those beautiful works of

postcard art in the mail and hopefully

we'll change some minds and change the

world. You know, sending a postcard can

just be one step in a whole journey of

activism. Have a conversation with a

friend. Talk at a local meeting.

Remember when Bellan spoke to people at

her book signing? People want to hear

what kids think of the world.

For more info about getting active in

your community, your grown-up can find

out more online. I have a feeling you

are all going to be just the change

makers we've been waiting for. I'm still

amazed that this book was written by a

kid, but it turns out there are quite a

few kid authors out there. So, our

friends at West Orange Public Library

picked a few more books for you. All

written by kids just like you. You got

to hear it from them.

I have a book to recommend for you and

it is called I am on I am new. The book

is about um a kid who is 10 years old

who is in fifth grade who has autism.

He was different than everybody else.

It makes me feel like it's okay to be

different from other people.

Different is good because everybody else

is different too. Because if we were all

the same, life would be so boring.

Take it from me. You want to read this

book?

You should read this book because this

book is really great.

[Music]

I read the book Ballet Brown. So,

there's this girl named Bellin. She does

ballet and she usually wears pink, but

she doesn't feel comfortable wearing

that because it doesn't match her skin

tone cuz it's only for like white

people. So, their skin tone shines. So,

then she starts wearing black and her

teacher doesn't accept that. So, then

she goes to another studio and all the

kids look up to her and start wearing

the same uniform as her. And the bigger

picture is that if you don't feel

comfortable doing something and someone

doesn't accept that, then you couldn't

find other people. You got to check this

book out.

I read you're enough.

It was really, really good and the

pictures were awesome.

It's about people being different from

another person. This book was written by

Sophia Sanchez, a young model and

actress with Down syndrome,

and some people make her feel different.

The book talks about how being different

can be lonely, but we're all in this

together, and everyone needs a friend.

Being different is a good thing because

everyone can be different. And I have

two colored eyes, but not everyone has

two colored eyes.

The message of this book is how to make

friends and be brave. Just because

people don't understand you doesn't mean

that you shouldn't be happy. You never

want to miss this book.

Stay reading to get smart.

Thanks so much for hanging out with me

at the library today. We got to read

more than Peach. Followed kids CEO Bell

& Woodard through a whirlwind busy day.

We sent out our activism postcards and

got a ton of recommendations of books by

kid authors. That's all for today. But

we've got plenty more adventures and

plenty more books to come. So, make sure

to follow the rainbow. See you next

time. I love books.

[Music]

Don't forget to check out some of the

other fun videos on Kinsico.

[Music]