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Blog

Announcing the 17th Class of 28 Days Later Honorees

Happy 2024, Friends! We were on hiatus most of last year. Happy to be back celebrating outstanding Black children’s book creators. This time, we’re doing something new. We’re collaborating with our Amplify Black Stories fellows to salute their work and give you an update on the members of The Brown Bookshelf team. Not familiar with Amplify [ Read the full article… ]

Cover Reveal: Jerry Changed The Game! How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever

Two years ago on social networks, librarian Elizabeth Bird suggested that someone write a biography on Jerry Lawson—the self-taught engineer known as the “father of modern video gaming.” Back in the 70s, Lawson successfully lead the team of engineers who developed the first interchangeable video game cartridge (recently featured on Google). I hadn’t heard of [ Read the full article… ]

The Future of 28 Days Later

When The Brown Bookshelf launched 28 Days Later in 2007, our goals were simple – honor Black children’s literature creatives who blazed trails in publishing and highlight Black children’s lit creatives who were not getting a significant level of recognition and promotional support for their works. We’ve accomplished those goals year after year and are [ Read the full article… ]

The Season of Black Boy Books – Best of 2022

Looking for outstanding children’s books featuring Black boys? Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati has you covered. Check out her guest post and list. From board books to young adult novels, she gives us wonderful titles by Black authors to read and share.   By Vanesse J. Lloyd-Sgambati, Founder of The African American Children’s Project   In 2022, books [ Read the full article… ]

Tameka Fryer Brown is Not Done Yet (And I’m So Glad)

Award-winning picture book author and BBS fam Tameka Fryer Brown is well known for her lyrical and spare but gorgeously poetic prose. From her early Around Our Way on Neighbors’ Day and My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood, to the more recent Brown Baby Lullaby and Twelve Dinging Doorbells, Tameka’s words are truly music [ Read the full article… ]

Something Very Special

Today, the Brown Bookshelf is thrilled to celebrate the release of Desiree Cooper’s NOTHING SPECIAL, her picture book debut! “Nothing Special is…about a Detroit boy named Jax, who travels to Virginia to spend time with his grandparents. He thinks he’s going to do all the city things he loves, but his PopPop has other ideas,” [ Read the full article… ]

Congratulations to the 15th Class of 28 Days Later Honorees!

It’s our favorite time of year! We are proud to announce the honorees of our 15th annual 28 Days Later campaign, a Black History Month celebration of outstanding Black children’s book creators. Each day during February, we will showcase an author or illustrator whose work reflects parts of who we are. It’s more important than [ Read the full article… ]