For the Joy of Reading

Hi, my name is Mary Loredo and the universal feeling of

isolation and unworthiness is one of the reasons why I

decided to create my children’s book series “The Chocolate

Covered Series”. I write every book with the intention of

creating more representation for African American children in

the books they read and to inspire all children to be their

own heroes in their daily lives. Roughly 10% of children’s

books feature African American protagonists. This is a

disheartening statistic because this lack of representation

can lead to African American children feeling isolated on a

daily basis simply because of the books they read.

Internalizing messages of being unworthy of representation in

books can lead to any marginalized group of children feeling

uncomfortable about representing their authentic selves,

families and communities in the world outside of the

environments they live in. Conversely, studies show that when

children see characters in books that they can identify with,

it helps them develop a strong connection to the character

and motivates them to read more. The foundation for the love

of reading begins to be laid and their ideas about who they

can become expands. When children read my books I want their

imagination to explode with limitless and empowering views of

themselves and who they can become in the world and spaces

they once felt invisible in.