Author: Don Tate

Guest post by Irene Smalls This Black History Month, let’s support reading achievement, fitness and health. Background: According to the CDC, during the years between 2007 and 2010, 51% of Black and 41% of Hispanic children were informed by doctors that they were overweight. The State of Obesity Report 9/14, shows that of children ages 6-11, 23.8% [ Read the full article… ]

We Need Diverse Books™ (WNDB)  is a grassroots organization created to address the lack of diverse, non-majority narratives in children’s literature. They are committed to the ideal that embracing diversity will lead to acceptance, empathy, and ultimately equality. Being that WNDB shares many of the goals we’ve set here at the Brown Bookshelf, I want to encourage you [ Read the full article… ]

Guest post for the Brown Bookshelf by syndicated cartoonist, author and illustrator, Jerry Craft I published my first book back in 1997. Since then I have written and / or illustrated more than a dozen others. I think the reason why I’ve dedicated my life to get kids to read is because I went through most of my [ Read the full article… ]

For a few years now, The Brown Bookshelf  has talked about the need for more diversity in children’s and YA books. Our focus here has been books by and/or about African Americans. Our voices are strongest during the month of February, when we host our 28 Days Later campaign. Thankfully within recent months — and [ Read the full article… ]

Today, we are proud to announce the honorees for our seventh annual 28 Days Later campaign, a Black History Month celebration of emerging and established children’s book creators of color. As is tradition, a stand-out author or illustrator will be saluted each day during February.  The month-long submissions window for our campaign opened in October. [ Read the full article… ]

Thank you for your participation in our 28 Days Later nomination process. At this point, we will gather names that you submitted, as well as toss in our own. Please look for our announcement of the 28 Days Later, 2014 honorees towards the end of this year. Thanks again. The Brown Bookshelf Team

Get ready to rep your favorites. It’s that time. The submissions window has officially opened for the seventh annual 28 Days Later campaign, a Black History Month celebration of picture books, middle grade and young adult novels written and illustrated by African Americans. We will take nominations today through November 8th. Over the past six [ Read the full article… ]

Given the release of “42,” the story of how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, we feature a couple of books about the legendary star and others. Jackie Robinson: American Hero, written by Sharon Robinson (Scholastic, 2013; ages 7 and up). In this comprehensive biography, Sharon Robinson introduces a new generation of readers [ Read the full article… ]