MadameNoire
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Power couple Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade are taking their “shady baby” empire to the next level. Inspired by their daughter Kaavia James, the husband and wife just announced they’re releasing a Shady Baby book, which is set to be released on May 18 via HarperCollins Publishers.
In a press release, the book’s main character, Shady Baby, was described as “a powerful, funny, and super-cute, Black girl character who always keeps it real.”
“This is our first children’s book we did together and we’re so excited for the world to read Shady Baby,” the actress and the NBA star told PEOPLE in a joint statement. “Inspired by our daughter, Kaavia James, we wanted to create a children’s book that not only had a little Black girl as the main character but that also reflects the global community we live in.”
“We hope to give the word ‘shady’ a more positive association and use it to represent one’s moral compass to do the right thing and stand up for themselves and others,” the couple continued. “It’s important that little Black girls and boys get to see themselves in these fairy tales and for children of other races to see us in leadership roles.”
In the Amazon listing for the book, the story’s plot was detailed further. After making her way to the park in the afternoon, Shady Baby encounters some mean kids who aren’t being nice to others. After flashing the bullies a look of “her famous side-eye”, Shady Baby apparently schools them on how to play nice and fair. The last note of the description outlines the project as an “upbeat picture book that teaches kids to speak their minds and stand up for what they believe in.”
Although it’s the couple’s first joint book, Shady Baby follows Union’s previously released children’s book, Welcome to the Party, which was also inspired by Kaavia James. Not wanting to limit the baby’s imprint to just the literary world, Union also did a “Kaavia James collection” with New York & Co. back in 2019.
It’s clear to see that Union and Wade really do consider Kaavia James to be their miracle baby. With all the struggles the two underwent to conceive, it’s lovely to hear that through this new book, all Kaavia James’ “shady baby” realness will be shared from their family, to ours.
