Kids are ready for it, they don't have to have everything lined up and real. It's not that they don't know it's not real, they just don't care. The original Aunt Connie makes placemats with women's names and she talks about women. In the book, Aunt Connie's a painter and the women talk directly to the children. I think we make a mistake not using fantasy as much as we can in teaching children about all kinds of things, including all the bad things that go on in the world.
Fantasy has a lot of hope.
Dinner at Aunt Connie's House is a story built on concentric rings of hope. First, Ringgold offers hope to Lonnie, an orphan newly adopted by Aunt Connie. I had wonderful two minute love affairs where we got married, had children and planned a beautiful life. And it was over and that was it. Maybe that's the way it should be.