Also, this gives the misconception that African Americans are like this, but in reality they are not. This is to show the inauthenticity of the African American (Brooks and McNair, 2009). Additionally, Brooks and McNair (2009) mention that there are things portrayed that they found disturbing that are African American: color blindness, descriptions of obese black women, and everything that one associates with the negative word Black. Due to the inauthentic portrayals of African American , there are many debates about what African American children's literature should be. According to Collier (2000), African American literature is a way for children of African descent to gain a sense of their identity and provide them with an authentic perspective. Without authentic perspectives, African American children will not know their identity if their representation is misleading