Expanding Our Family: New BBS Members

We’re thrilled to share that our family has grown. Please join us in welcoming two stand-outs in the kidlit world to our Brown Bookshelf team – author and editor Tracey Baptiste and author/illustrator Jerry Craft.

Tracey announced a new book deal last month. She’s writing a sequel to her award-winning novel The Jumbies. Yesterday, Jerry was one of four featured children’s book creators for the Young Males Reading Challenge in Jackson, MS. He, Eric Velasquez, David Miller and Kenneth Braswell talked to third-fifth grade boys about the power of literacy and signed 900 books.

We’re excited about the new ideas, energy and expertise Tracey and Jerry will bring to The Brown Bookshelf. Next year marks the 10th anniversary of 28 Days Later, our Black History Month celebration of black children’s book creators. We look forward to saluting that milestone and finding more ways to raise awareness about black children’s book authors and illustrators and inspire and empower all kids. Thank you, Tracey and Jerry, for joining us in that mission.

Here’s more about them from the About Us section of our site:

Tracey Baptiste, M. Ed, is the author of the MG novel The Jumbies, which was a New York Public Libraries Staff Pick and included in the Bank Street Best Books of 2016, among other accolades. She’s also the author of the YA novel, Angel’s Grace, and several nonfiction books for children. Her latest is The Totally Gross History of Ancient Egypt. Tracey is on the faculty at Lesley University’s MFA program in Creative Writing, and works as a freelance editor for various publishing companies as well as running her own editorial company, Fairy Godauthor. Find out more about her at www.traceybaptiste.com.

Jerry Craft has illustrated and/or written close to two dozen children’s books and board games. His latest middle-grade novels are The Offenders: Saving the World While Serving Detention! — an action / adventure story co-written with his two teenage sons that is designed to teach kids about the negative effects of bullying and The Zero Degree Zombie Zone, written by Patrik Henry Bass. His work has appeared in national publications such as Essence Magazine, Ebony, and two Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Jerry is also the creator of Mama’s Boyz, an award-winning comic strip that has been distributed by King Features Syndicate to almost 900 publications since 1995. Jerry has won five African American Literary Awards. Find out more about Jerry at www.jerrycraft.net.