28 Days

Tololwa M. Mollel describes on his website the first time he had a new book to call his own. He stared at it. He smelled the pages. He cherished the words that transported him into different lives and worlds.”When I finally began school and to enjoy access to books, like a parched throat thirsts for water, I [ Read the full article… ]

Lyah B. LeFlore is the author of the young adult novels, The World Is Mine and Can’t Hold Me Down in the Come Up series. Both are published by Simon & Schuster. In a video interview on Simon & Schuster’s website, Lyah said the Come Up books are about a group of multi-ethnic kids “taking [ Read the full article… ]

Ann Tanksley is the illustrator of My Heart Will Not Sit Down (Knoff, 2012), written by Mara Rockliff. Ann is a fine artist who graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). She is the illustrator of the picture book The Six Fools by Zora Neale Hurston, and the creator of a [ Read the full article… ]

“‘So do you really believe that in the future we’re going to have the kind of trouble you write about in your books?’ a student asked me as I was signing books after a talk. The young man was referring to the troubles I’d described in Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, [ Read the full article… ]

My daughter was immediately enchanted by The Diary of B.B. Bright, Possible Princess, big time. From the moment she saw the luminous cover to her nonstop read of the lyrical, lovely tale, she was hooked. And no wonder. This mother-daughter team packs a powerhouse punch. At Vanderbilt University Alice Randall teaches Bedtime in the Briarpatch: [ Read the full article… ]

Children’s book author Donna Washington grew up with storytelling all around her. At the dinner table, her  father would share mesmerizing tales that sent Donna’s imagination soaring. In college, she studied speech and theater and learned she had a gift for storytelling too. Donna has won many awards and accolades for her work. Her recordings of “Live and [ Read the full article… ]

B. A. Binns is a Chicago Area author who writes stories about “real boys growing into real men,” and finds writing the perfect follow-up to life as an adoptive parent and a cancer survivor. She has authored three realistic, YA books exploring multicultural themes: PULL (2010), DIE TRYING AND OTHER STORIES (2012) and BEING GOD [ Read the full article… ]

Veronica Chambers has “written more than a dozen books for children, most recently Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa and the body confidence Y/A novel, Plus. Her teen series, Amigas, is a collaboration between Chambers, producer Jane Startz and Jennifer Lopez.” From Ms. Chambers’ Web site: “After two years of planning the hottest quineaneras in Miami [ Read the full article… ]