Luciland was created by Rachel Pearson and Mieke Eerkens, two formerly awkward children who met at a birthday party in line for the Slip n' Slide™, one knobby kneed and gangly, the other chubby and introverted. 25 years later, they embarked on a project to introduce the world to a cast of characters born of their deep love for their inner children and those of so many of others, children who were not popular and "cool", but real, and deserving of a stage.
Luciland strives to show all children a world where they are welcome and loved, a world where differences are not singled out, but integrated. When represented, children who don't fit the typical mold are generally segregated into themed literature ("deaf", "black", "Asian", etc.) or media where their unusual traits are highlighted further and singled out as their most important identifying feature. We at Luciland don't feel that a handicapped child, or a bookworm, or an immigrant child, or a child of color, or any other child, should have to find him or herself solely represented in a "special" section of the bookstore or video store. Our schoolyards are made up of a mixture idiosyncratic, nuanced children, and they learn where they stand in the world through our eyes. We at Luciland think they are wonderful and extremely "cool". These are our flesh and blood children, and we celebrate them at Luciland for their beautiful, unique contribution to our collective whole.
It is our deepest desire to one day see the light of possibility in the eyes of a little Hispanic girl who sees "Carmen" run a successful business, or a little Asian girl who sees "Ming Wa" ride her skateboard, or a deaf boy who watches the popular "Alex" charm all the girls, or a nerd who watches "Joshua" be brilliant and be accepted, or a child with an overactive imagination and an unusual sense of personal style watch "Luci", our title character, be adored for her eccentricity… None of our characters are restricted by labels and stereotypes. At Luciland, we love our differences. We love to break the mold. And we think knobby knees and chubbiness are just perfect. We are fabulous now, and we were fabulous then. We are all uniquely, idiosyncratically, fabulous.
Welcome to Luciland.
2 comments:
Hello! I just found your blog completely by accident and I think your premise is incredible. I bookmarked it and look forward to seeing more. Firefox prevented me from seeing the popups of the individual kids, but I will try to find a way around that (I'm not too computer literate).
Good luck! You both sound fabulous!
Laurie
This blog post made me cry, especially as a new mom (my sweet babe is 3.5 months old). Rachel, I met you years ago at a YWSE retreat and my daughter Rosemary has received many speesees outfits as gifts! Are the Luciland books mentioned in the most recent blog available for purchase?? Hooray and congrats, Sara Ellis Conant
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