Thank you for
stopping by and wanting to know more about aKINDemy!
My name is Agne and I
am a founder (aka Chief aKINDemist) of aKINDemy. I am also a mother of two
wonderful girls aged 2 and 5 who absolutely love books.
I am a strong
believer that a well-rounded education goes
beyond simple academics, sports and arts; it is about raising children with good
values and principles that draw the best out of their mind and soul.
No matter the culture we live in,
most children look up to us, their parents, as their primary source of values. Because
we are in role model positions for our children, we should not only strive to
teach them good values but also take the time to explain why they matter. Our
guidance is crucial so our kids can demonstrate KINDness, empathy, love and
acceptance of others. And reading is an amazing tool to help us achieve the
above goals. We just need the right books!
When my first
daughter Luna was born and I started collecting books for us to read together,
I noticed the lack of representation in children’s literature. The books
available online as well as in our bookstores largely featured animals, objects
(mainly male gender), white and able-bodied population. It felt that a crucial
part was missing! All children deserve to experience books that reflect their
realities and give them the opportunity to experience realities beyond their
own.
I then learnt there
is underrepresentation not only in the books available in our bookstores but in
the publishing industry itself:
-
38% of books
published in the UK in 2020 featured animals or inanimate objects as main
characters*
-
just 5% of those
books had Black, Asian or minority ethnic main character (so we are 8 times
more likely to see an animal!)*
-
60% of characters
given gender were animals, birds, crayons or other objects and 73% of those
characters were more likely to be male than female**
-
only 3.4% of the books
written in 2019 in the US featured children with disabilities as main
characters!***
It’s
important to note that the industry has been making consistent improvements
over the past few years, but there is still significantly more work to be done.
While the industry is
working on making improvements, I wanted to do something to help
parents and guardians find purpose-focused and diverse books that already exist.
I created aKINDemy to remove the hassle of searching for those good
children’s books that offer opportunities to engage them in important
conversations, develop a sense of morality and help them grasp a wider sense of
who they are, while cultivating KINDness.
Now we
curate beautiful and diverse books as well as activities and games that can
further engage our children in different themes every month and show a wide
range of human experience. We cover important topics such as gender equality,
positive body image, safety and consent, physical and mental wellbeing, social
justice, environment and many more!
Hope you will join me
and the team at aKINDemy on this KIND journey. We look forward to helping you diversify
your children’s bookshelves, open their powerful minds and grow their big
hearts.
If you want to get in touch
with us, be a part of this journey or recommend books, games or activities
please give us a shout at welcome@akindemy.com.
Enjoy the KIND ride!
Agne
Xxx
“Literature transforms human experience and
reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and
experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a
means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books…When
there are enough books available that act as both mirrors and windows for all
our children, they will see that we can celebrate both our differences and our
similarities, because together they are what makes us all human.” - Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, Professor emerita at
Ohio State University
*Centre
for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE)
You can also contact us via:
welcome@akindemy.com