Breaking barriers by the pages: St. Louis mom creates coloring book collection to uplift Black children
By Melanie Johnson
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ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — Koi Nikole is a mother and author who has designed coloring books to bring representation to a childhood favorite.
“The way that we dress is different. The things that we think are important, are different. The different styles of our hair,” she says.
Nikole has designed a coloring book for Black girls and a separate one for Black boys to help change the narrative of what it means to be African American.
“Representation says, ‘Hey, I can see me in this book,’” says Nikole. “I hope that they are encouraged to be great.”
The collection will debut during Black History Month.
“It becomes Black history and it makes it something that we can see all the time,” she says. “I hope those images give them parts of themselves maybe that they’ve never even thought about but are important.”
Inside the book, the images are designed to reflect Black culture and provide mental health exercises to allow them to write down their dreams and manage their emotional intelligence.
“Not only can you reduce your stress and focus, you can also learn what these things actually mean even if it’s not being modeled or spoken to intentionally in your home,” she said.
It’s a sight she wanted to provide for her children as well as others.
“In a lot of spaces, especially with African American boys, we don’t have those visuals for them,” Nikole says. “Those are things that I really wanted my sons to see.”
The male coloring book titled, “Bruh Be Amazing” and the female book called, “Sis You’re Amazing”, go on sale Friday, February 23 on Amazon.
“You don’t know all of the greatness that is in you. Keep being creative, keep using your imagination, and the sun is not going to stop shining on you,” she said.
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