If you know me, you know how I feel about Vanessa Brantley Newton. If you don’t know, read this. In summary, she is my sister and she is brilliant. She is a generous friend of The Brown Bookshelf, and has gifted us permission to use her gorgeous illustrations on more than one occasion. She is [ Read the full article… ]
28 Days
Day 20 Throwback: RENÉE WATSON
Renée Watson was the debut author of two children’s books–a picture book and a middle grade novel, both published in 2010–when we featured her during 28 Days Later in 2011. She is now a Coretta Scott King Award and Newbery Honor winning kidlit superstar whose books have sold over 1 million copies. Though her notoriety [ Read the full article… ]
Day 19 Throwback: DANIEL MINTER
Daniel Minter’s art is bold, brilliant, and singular. Every book, every sculpture, every painting, every postage stamp…all are testaments to the compelling nature of his creative genius. In 2020, Minter was awarded a Caldecott Honor Award for Going Down Home With Daddy, his second award-winning collaboration with BBS member, Kelly Starling Lyons. Their first was [ Read the full article… ]
Day 18 Throwback: JERDINE NOLEN
When I interviewed author Jerdine Nolen in 2010, during my first year with The Brown Bookshelf, I was a bit star struck. Two of her books were in our family’s regular reading rotation (In My Momma’s Kitchen and Raising Dragons), and we had checked out several others from the library (shout outs to Harvey Potter’s [ Read the full article… ]
Day 17 Throwback: ALICE FAYE DUNCAN
When Alice Faye Duncan was selected as one of our 28 Days Later honorees, her most recent book was Honey Baby Sugar Child. Since then, the award-winning author has gone on to publish: Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks Just Like a Mama Evicted! The Struggle for the Right to Vote [ Read the full article… ]
Day 16 Throwback: JOYCE CAROL THOMAS
I had the pleasure of interviewing Joyce Carol Thomas in 2011, during my second year with The Brown Bookshelf, when I still quite green and didn’t know much about the publishing industry at all. But I knew Joyce Carol Thomas wrote the most phenomenal books. I knew because I had checked out several of them [ Read the full article… ]
Day 15 Throwback: LONDON LADD (Then & Now)
What a difference a decade makes! This is certainly true for illustrator extraordinaire London Ladd whose career and illustrative style have evolved in so many ways since we first profiled him in 2009. How have they evolved, you ask? Read Don Tate’s 2009 interview with London below, then watch the craft- and culture-rich conversation I had [ Read the full article… ]
Throwback/Flash Post Day 14 – Christine Taylor-Butler
The Brown Bookshelf is honored to highlight Christine Taylor-Butler in a Throwback/Flash Forward segment of 28 Days Later! THROWBACK The Power of Perseverance, by C. Taylor-Butler The Inspiration for the Story I’m a child of science fiction.I grew up on Star Trek, Lost in Space, The Twilight Zone, and Outer Limits. I buried my [ Read the full article… ]