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Day 28: Varian Johnson

Co-founder of The Brown Bookshelf with Paula Chase, Varian Johnson helped create something amazing. Tired of hearing that people couldn’t find books by Black children’s book creators, he and Paula formed a team that would shine a light on the incredible Black authors and illustrators creating great reads for babies to teens every day. What [ Read the full article… ]

Day 27: Paula Chase

Paula Chase and Varian Johnson co-founded The Brown Bookshelf. They’re the reason why we’re here. They invited us to join them in the mission to raise awareness of under-the-radar Black authors and illustrators and salute veteran ones. Look at what they created. We’ve been doing this for 17 years. Paula is brilliant, hard-working and giving. [ Read the full article… ]

Day 26: Don Tate

Don Tate is an acclaimed author and the illustrator of numerous books for children. He is the illustrator of the Roto and Roy series (Little Brown, 2022, 2023), Swish! The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters (Little Brown, 2020), and Carter Reads the Newspaper (Peachtree, 2021). He is the author of Jerry Changed the Game! How [ Read the full article… ]

Day 25: Crystal Allen

The Brown Bookshelf is a family of creatives, genuinely focused on knowing other creatives of color, and making their works known.  Being a committee member has strengthened my commitment to our community. It has helped me form strong relationships with other writers, illustrators, editors, and organizations that I may not have been a part of [ Read the full article… ]

Day 23: Tameka Fryer Brown

Tameka Fryer Brown writes to sow seeds of self-love, pride, connectivity, and inclusion in the hearts of children. Her picture books have won awards like the Jane Addams Children’s Book Honor Award, the Charlotte Huck Honor Award, and the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Award. They’ve also been recognized on Best Book lists by the Cooperative Children’s [ Read the full article… ]