KC teacher didn’t see characters who look like her students. So she wrote her own books

Editor’s Note: This interview is part of Voices of Kansas City, a project created in collaboration with KKFI Community Radio and Kansas City GIFT (Generating Income For Tomorrow), a nonprofit supporting Black-owned small businesses, to highlight the experiences of Kansas Citians making an impact on the community. Hear the interviews on KKFI 90.1 FM, Fridays at noon, or at KKFI.org. Do you know someone who should be featured in a future “Voices of Kansas City” season? Tell us about them using this form.

Dayonne Richardson walked into the studio at Kansas City GIFT carrying a plush, miniature version of herself, complete with white-framed glasses and a T-shirt with the word “Read” printed on it.

The author sat the doll version of herself next to two other plush characters, a boy with a red hoodie and big smile, and a girl with a lime green dress and bows tied around her afro puffs. Both kids, inspired by her nephew and niece, are characters starring in Richardson’s two children’s books, the foundation of her Kansas City business, Mirror Mirror Books.

The Kansas City Star invited Richardson, a teacher from Kansas City, Kansas, to the Prospect Avenue studio, to participate in a new project launched in partnership with GIFT, a nonprofit that supports Black business in the city and KKFI Kansas City Community Radio.

Richardson described how as a teacher, she noticed in her classroom a lack of children’s books with characters who looked like her students. She decided to change that, and is now writing her third book through her business, aimed at creating characters who mirror the children she has long taught.

Their conversation, edited for length and clarity, is presented in a question and answer format to share Richardson’s story in her own words.

Meet Dayonne Richardson

The Star: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your ties to Kansas City?

Dayonne Richardson: I am a KCK native. I grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. And I have had the privilege to also be a teacher in those same areas. I have been a teacher for over 10 years and an author for three.

What made you want to be a teacher?

Honestly, I would probably say my mom. Growing up, she was a Sunday school teacher for my class, and I saw her create the most incredible lessons. And it engaged me, watching her create. Watching her thought process. As well as I’ve had some really strong educators in my life who have helped me fight for my own educational experience. So those educators and my mom were the reason that I grew up and said I also want to be a teacher.

Do you remember a specific story of a teacher who inspired you in that way?

I definitely do. Her name was Jan Leigh. She was my middle school English teacher and she really fought for me to give my best effort. And I’m still in contact with her today, which is really, really cool. She forced me to move beyond just being mediocre, beyond just being average, to aim for my very, very best. And so I tried to be that same educator for my students. Shout out to Ms. Leigh.

A big part of your story is about the importance of reading in your classroom. Can you talk about what impact that has had and how it led to your business?

I noticed that a lot of the books that I was reading to my students were not a reflection of them. I predominantly worked in inner city schools, and what I found is I didn’t have a lot of books that looked like my children. And so in 2020, when I started creating my first book, “I Told the Storm,” it was important to me that they had that mirror. And then since 2020, I’ve gone on to make a business, Mirror Mirror Books, where students have a chance to see themselves.

I want them to experience that mirror. Research says that 70% of children’s books are either of white characters or animals. So that to me, says more than you’re going to find one that looks like you, you’re going to find an elephant and a pig or, you know, something different. And so I’ve wanted to give my readers the opportunity to see themselves as the hero, as the one who succeeds, as the one who triumphs in the story. That was really important to me.

And since I’ve released both books, my students say, “Oh, she looks like me.” Or, “He looks like my cousin.” And that warms my heart because that’s the mirror effect.

And you’ve now written two children’s books.

Yes, I have. The first one was dedicated to my nephew. He was the first one I read my book to, Emry. And my niece, Eris, who’s now 5, she said, “Auntie, where’s my book?” So in May of last year, I released “Our Gift Grace,” which was dedicated to her. And so I’m excited to also announce the third one will be done in January.

What will the third book be about?

With the third one, my students have asked me, “You never wrote a book about us.” And so this third one is dedicated to my students. It’s called “A Letter to My Favorite Student.” And spoiler, it’s all of them.

Over 10 years of teaching, all those memories, all those experiences, getting a chance to put them into a book will be really nice.

You mentioned the lack of representation in books that you had in your own classroom. Just looking through what you had in your own class library, how big was that gap?

It was pretty significant. You think about the access to books. There was not a lot when I began teaching. Now I feel like there’s more. You know, “The Crown Act,” where it talked about our hair texture and celebrating our different hairstyles and being able to still be looked at professionally. And then we had the book, “Hair Love,” that came out around that same time. And so more and more authors are coming out with books that are that representation.

But my library, it was mostly animals, mostly animal children’s books. And some of them are really, really fun, which is fine, but the students don’t always connect with them because of that representation. They understand the feeling of the character. But to connect with someone that looks like you also, you know, has a different impact.

How much are students aware of that?

A couple of things come to mind from that question. The first is that I read a book and it was about a mouse on Thanksgiving and the mouse was trying to find a feast. And so the mouse was scurrying all around the house, trying to get a feast. And the kid was like, “Oh, that’s gross.” And so it was a cute little thing where the mouse wants a feast. But the kid was like, “I wouldn’t want no mouse running around my house trying to get a piece of my turkey, a piece of my mashed potatoes.” That ain’t cute. I do not want that.

But the author of that is trying to, you know, translate like everyone is trying to find their own thing, you know? And so it’s cute, but it’s still not relevant always. And I think that when we think about our self-identity, when we look in the mirror, we love what see. Sometimes we might not. But we say, “OK, I’m going to try to do something differently or accentuate something different.” It’s the same way with books.

When we look at the main character as being someone who doesn’t look like us but is getting the compliments, getting celebrated, getting the praise that can trigger to our identity, to say, “Well, how come I couldn’t be that? Am I that?” And so there is research that supports the more we see ourselves represented well, the more that helps our self-esteem.

In magazines, you know, TV, all of those play a part in our identity, whether we want it to or not. And so when I think about my characters looking like the children that I serve, they know and they’re proud of it. You know, the way we wear our hair is so different, the different styles. And to have them say like, “She has her hair like Grace!” You know, Grace has little afro puffs. “I want to take a picture with Grace!”

And so it shows you that, yes, it does serve a beautiful purpose.

How did you take the leap from recognizing that this was a problem in your classroom and that there weren’t many people addressing it, to then saying, I should be the one solving it?

It was kind of scary because I never saw myself as being an author. And so the discovery of trying to figure out how to even publish a book was something that I had to go through. And there were a lot of tears. Because, you know, this is not common knowledge.

Tears of frustration?

Yes, because there was a lot about being an author I didn’t know and I wasn’t taught. So I had to learn a lot of things on the fly or with no experience. And shout out to the people in my life who had published, and I was able to kind of use them as a mentor. But it was an intense process from start to finish. But it was so rewarding because you knew, like, I fought for this. And the book is done and it’s loved.

Once I recognized that there wasn’t a lot of books with representation, then I started finding more. And then when I realized there wasn’t a lot to find, we wrote one.

Were there many resources in Kansas City? Do you think it was difficult doing this process in Kansas City compared to a bigger metro?

I feel like as of late there are so many African American authors in the city. And it warms my heart to know so many of them. And it’s kind of wild, a lot of them are educators. That correlation is evident. So you can’t ignore the fact that educators are the ones writing these books for children.

And so now I feel like I know a lot of authors in Kansas City that are geared towards our babies and that representation. And so that warms my heart because that wasn’t always the case. I also kind of just came by the drove, like stampede. And we haven’t stopped. We haven’t slowed down.

And you showed me before the interview that you’ve also made plushies that go along with the characters. And you now have a doll of yourself, as another example kids could look to and see themselves as an author.

Yes, which is wild because I wear glasses and she wears glasses. It’s just too cute for me. I know my students, they write stories, they write books. And they are proud to share their books with me. And it’s that ripple effect. All it takes is one person to believe that you can. And that’s all she wrote.

What are your two books about? And what was your process for deciding what to write about?

We have, “I Told the Storm,” which was written literally during a storm, it was the pandemic in 2020. And I was just coming back from teaching in China, and I wrote the whole book on the plane.

And it’s basically a story of a little boy who’s afraid of a thunderstorm. And he learns how God uses storms to help things grow. Even though storms may be scary, they’re there to help us. And in my seasons of life, I didn’t see the fruit of a storm. In my mind, I felt like, “What is the purpose of this season?”

So for me, becoming a teacher, I had to take that test 13 times. And that was a storm that almost depleted me to where I was like, maybe I’m not meant to be a teacher. I was questioning it. And now to see where I am in education, I know that season was worth every minute. Because now I can encourage my students when they have to take a test or when there’s something they’re facing.

And then for “Our Gift Grace,” that was 2022. And it is about a brother and a sister who learn to get along. And those with siblings know we might have struggled a little bit with getting along and the concept of grace, but you learn grace from that relationship first. And both of my books always correlate to whatever lesson I’m going through in life.

And so for “Our Gift Grace,” when we came back from teaching in the pandemic, then to go back to in-person or hybrid or back virtual, no one knew what was going on. And so I had to learn how to give grace to myself. Through therapy, I learned how to give grace to my parents, how to give grace to my students. And to the whole educational system, because we didn’t know what was going on. Everything changed quickly. And so whatever season of life that I’m in, that’s usually the theme of my books.

And flipping through your books, there is a fill-in-the-blank aspect to it, or an interactive part of it. Can you talk about that and why you chose to include that?

Yes, that’s the teacher in me, for sure. In, “I Told the Storm,” it does have questions like, “What’s the storm in your life that you are facing?” It has facts about different types of storms. And then for “Our Gift Grace,” it has like talking stems on how to give grace to others and how to give grace to yourself. And so one of the things I was very intentional about putting in the book is this test does not define me. And that was a testament in my life and what I see. I’ve taught third and fourth grade the most, and those are testing grades, the MAP test, this test and that test. And the kids would get so discouraged when they wouldn’t meet their goals. It would just deplete all of their energy. And so for me, it was important that they knew this does not define you.

To give grace to say, I prepared for this test as much as I could. And that’s enough. And so I put those in there because babies going from being online by themselves at home, to then being back in person, those social skills were zero. Zero. And so to teach them, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Can you please sit by me? I want to be your friend.” You know, those social skills, I made sure to put those in the book, too.

Have you brought the books into your classroom? And if so, how have students responded to them?

Oh, you’re going to make me cry. I have brought them in, and it has been a blast. For “I Told the Storm,” we painted our own storms and put them up in the room. We talked about things that we’ve been afraid of and how we overcame them.

For “Our Gift Grace,” I did use it for some conflict resolution, and it really helped. And I think I kind of got some brownie points because I wrote it. And it was like, she’s not just doing a read aloud. She wrote the book.

And so, yes, I’ve shared both. And then I’ve had the characters in my room, too. And the kids really respond well to it during independent reading time, wanting to read with them. And I try to preface, they are reading buddies. Please don’t have them break dance on the carpet. Read to them.

And then I have a good friend that sponsored every kid in my class with “Our Gift Grace.” And so they each have their own copy, too.

And GIFT — which we are in the GIFT studios right now — also gave you a grant, is that right?

Yes, in March of this year, I received a GIFT grant of $10,000. And with that, I was able to match my demand with the supply. And so that blessed me so much that I was able to order more of the Grace doll, because she’s been just gone. She’s a hot topic, and so I was able to purchase larger orders of them. I’ve been able to travel to share my books and characters with other people in other locations. Because everybody deserves a mirror. Everyone deserves the right to see themselves represented, no matter who you are, what you look like.

And so through GIFT, I’ve been able to do that and it’s blessed me greatly. So bigger book orders, bigger doll orders, other merchandise like tote bags.

You mentioned the reflection of a mirror being the theme of your business, Mirror Mirror Books. When did you reach a point where you said this really could be a business?

I think it was the demand. That’s what prompted it, too. Because of course I had my niece in my ear saying, “Auntie, where’s my book?” But I also had people saying, “What’s the next book? You should make a book for the girls. You should make a book for this.” And I was like, there might be something here. Because like I was saying, I had never envisioned myself being a business owner or anything like that. I just wanted to be a part of the solution for my students.

And so when the demand increased, I realized I had something here. And through an entrepreneurship course, I was able to learn more about being a business owner and taking ownership of what need my business meets. And with the numbers that I was receiving, all of the data and demographics, I realized there is a need for what I’m doing.

And so then I went into, “What will my business name be?” And something I always talked about was mirrors. I always talked about the mirror. And so from that came up with Mirror Mirror Books.

How has your nephew and niece responded to seeing the books, seeing their own face?

Emry is really cool, right? He’s in the fourth grade now, so he’s a cool kid. But his school had Read Across America Day and he brought his book. And he called me and he said, “She read my book to all of the third grade classes.” And I said, “How did that feel?” And he said, “It felt cool.” So brownie points, brownie points left and right.

And my niece, Eris, who Grace is based off of, she absolutely loves it. She knows how to write her name, so whenever we’re at a book event, she signs her signature. And she tells everybody who walks by, “That’s me. That’s me in that book.”

And so they’re both very, very proud. And that warms my heart, too. Because Emry will tell me,” Auntie, I have a book that I want to write about.” And so to think those things as a child and to know that it is possible. To see that happen with a family member, it’s just like the legacy continues forward. And so it’s very exciting to them and it’s exciting to me.

The idea of sitting down and writing a book sounds daunting, especially if you haven’t done it before. What was that process like for you?

Well, I’ve been writing poems or short stories since I was very young, probably like elementary school, middle. But to do a book from start to finish, it was a little bit intimidating. But I feel like the ideas kind of just came for both because they were part of my testimony. So they came really easy. But to frame them and to make sure that I was intentional about communicating, because I think it’s one thing to know what you are trying to say, but the reader is going to see something different.

And so being aware of how it could be translated across was very important. But as a person who self-published, I did have to go through some research to figure out the dimensions of the book. And do we want the text to stretch out? You know, like all of those mechanics, I knew nothing about.

And so the first book, it was something that I had to have some growing pains with. With the second one, it was less because I had already kind of done it. So now I get a chance to coach other people on how to self-publish if that’s the route they want to go through.

Being a teacher and talking to your kids every day, how much did that inform what you wrote about and thought a student would be interested in reading?

It was really wild because, you know, people say, “What’s the age group for your books?” And I really wrote “Our Gift Grace” with big kids in mind. I’m reading to them every day. I’m talking to them every day. I hear the arguments. I see the feelings hurt, you know. I see all of that. And so I wrote “Our Gift Grace” with big kids in mind.

When I wrote “I Told the Storm,” I was teaching second grade. And so that’s K-2, that’s the littles. And so I didn’t even think about it. I just knew whoever I was around, those were the students I was congregating with. And so I’m writing for this age group because I see what they’re experiencing. I see the need. But I feel like any age group can really respond to them.

But I know that they played a big influence on the words I use, the rhyming. Kindergarten through second grade, they love rhyme, it’s a pattern, it helps them read the book easier. So I wrote a lot of rhyme in “I Told the Storm.”

In “Our Gift Grace,” it has a lot of bigger concepts that they need. They need those bigger concepts. They’re ready to handle them.

Can you talk about the illustrations in the book and how you partnered with an artist on that?

Yes, through one of my mentors Derrick Barnes, who is a New York Times bestseller, he’s also from Kansas City and a children’s book author as well. I was trying to find an illustrator. And his advice was to go to your local art institute. And so the Kansas City Art Institute, they have an illustrator building. I didn’t even know that was a thing.

So I went up there, I was meeting people and seeing student work. And one of my teammates at the time … she was like, “I think I have an artist in mind who would be perfect.” And she connected me with Brilynn Asia, who is a St. Louis native but also graduated from the art institute. And it’s been a done deal since then. She’s gone on to do my second book. My characters are based after her illustrations. She’s a painter by trade, so you can see there’s so many different concepts that she put into the books.

And she really brought those pictures to life, and I can’t wait until we do our next one together. I’ve been trying to get on her schedule because now she’s busy. She’s been doing books left and right, which is beautiful to see. I love that we were both from the same area and we’re both African American women creating these books together. She’s the bomb-dot-com.

What advice would you give people who are into a career but have an idea or are thinking about starting a business? How do you make that leap when you’ve been in your career for a bit but are thinking about doing something else?

I would say be scared, but do it anyway. You know, if I waited until I wasn’t afraid, I wouldn’t have done any of this. If I waited till I wasn’t intimidated, I wouldn’t have done any of it. So do it anyway. There is a group of people who are waiting for what you have. And you’re doing a disservice to them and yourself to hold it hostage. Go on and share it. We’ve been waiting for it.

We are waiting for your book. There are people you are going to connect to through your book or through whatever your art is. Holding on to it is doing a disservice to you and to the people that want it.

So do it anyway. You might be scared. Do it anyway.

I’m scared often and I’m like, I’m just going to go for it. And so I would encourage them, do it anyway. Do it nervous. Do it unsure. But the goal is just to get moving.