Happy Sunday, folks!
Thanksgiving and Christmas is upon us, and for me, I love, love, love watching holiday movies, whether it’s about Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s, or a combo of the two. I know we usually focus on books, but movies are like books come to life (if they’re done well!).
As I was planning this blog in my mind, I was trying to think about what my favorite holiday movie and book that features diverse principal characters. And nothing came in my mind, except for the movie, “The Holiday” with Queen Latifah. So either I have a sheltered shelf of books and DVDs, or we need more diverse holiday books and movies out there in the world (or perhaps a bit of both).
My son does have a Spanish language book about too many tamales (¡Qué Montón de Tamales!), which talks about Christmas with a Mexican family and working together to make tamales. The premise is that a little girl helps her aunt make tamales but later realizes she has lost her mother’s ring inside the giant mountain of tamales, and she and her cousins have to eat them to find the ring. Pretty cute!
But, seriously, as I think about all the holiday books and movies I love: “A Christmas Carol,” “Home Alone,” “Miracle on 34th Street,” “Elf,” etc. there are almost zero people of color in those movies. I am literally realizing this as I am writing this. Wow, that is sad.
Please tell me good movies and books with diversity so I can expand my horizons and get in the holiday spirit! Thanks!!!
Diversity Between the Pages 
Even as much as I love Christmas, I’ve not been reading Christmas books for very long, and my annual holiday movie queue has been pretty small for most of my life. So my efforts to “diversify” my holiday entertainment are new efforts. 😀
Still, I quite enjoyed a movie called Marry Me for Christmas (2013), which turned out to be less of a predictable holiday flick than I was expecting (although, yes, I also enjoy predictable holiday flicks with pleasant helpings of Christmas corny. What can I say?)
As for books, I’ve written a romantic comedy, The “She” Stands Alone, that ties right into the holidays. It’s a part of a romance collection called Inspiring Love.
You may also want to look up A Baby for Christmas by author Pat Simmons. It’s second in a series, Love at the Crossroads, and though I’d recommend reading the first novella first (since I prefer reading series in order), it might not be absolutely essential. 🙂
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Cool! I shall check them out!!!
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I just saw a Hallmark movie, Enchanted Christmas, featuring Hispanics. I was amazed and also hopeful that one day they’ll have one with a AA cast. And a shameless plug, Making Spirits Bright collection has a few novellas with a diverse cast. 3 out of the 4 books in the set.
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