As we neared the end of the Amplify Black Stories celebration, a question from Denise Aduesi, Co-founder of Black Creators in KidLit, popped into the chat: How do you balance writing and activism? Thanks to the enthusiastic response from those attending, the question flitted by as quickly as it had popped onscreen while folks weighed [ Read the full article… ]
Author: Paula Chase Hyman


Cover Reveal – A Day for Rememberin’
Book release date: May 11th, 2021 When you think Memorial Day, images of parades and cookouts are likely the first thing to come to mind. Even those that use the day to honor the military for their service and believe they know what the day means will be inspired by the story of a community of [ Read the full article… ]

PRESS RELEASE: The United State of The BrownBook Shelf
Amplification and Advocacy Group To Galvanize Black Kid Lit (August 24, 2020) – The Brown Bookshelf is calling on the children’s literature community to assess and change traditional practices that marginalize the work of Black children’s literature creatives. The organization has amplified the voices of nearly 400 children’s book authors and illustrators since its inception [ Read the full article… ]

Generations Book Club: Heritage & Legacy
We hope you’ve enjoyed our book club selections, so far. I trust you don’t need a pandemic to force reading, but with a semi-quarantine situation in effect for most of our country, our book selections are a great opportunity to find a book for any member of the family. This week’s theme is Heritage and [ Read the full article… ]

Generations Book Club: Community & Culture
The books featured on our site have shown the Black experience in all its shapes and forms. In our second Generation’s Book Club list we feature books that give readers a glimpse into the many flavors of community and culture – from a nighttime routine to put baby to sleep to the battle over [ Read the full article… ]

BBS Proudly Supports Everywhere Book Fest
Tomorrow, the power of collaboration will manifest itself in Everywhere Book Fest, a multi-cultural virtual book fest put together by authors: Ellen Oh, Melanie Conklin and Christina Soontornvat. The virtual fest came together, over a 45-day period, in answer to the loss of festivals due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Though created to fill the void [ Read the full article… ]

Read Alouds, Lessons and Plans…Oh My
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash The artistic community has really stepped up to help keep folks engaged, entertained and informed during the Covid-19 outbreak. There are author read-alouds, writing and illustrating exercises,live dance classes and free concerts everywhere I turn. It makes me proud to be a member of this community, who sprung into action even [ Read the full article… ]

The Voice Method of Book Talking
The “Where Are The Books for 8th Graders?” panel at NCTE was packed. Who knew that educators were so hungry for books catered to their middle school readers? We did. Authors knew. One of the suggestions was a new way to Book Talk, specifically with 8th graders in mind. But, of course, this can be [ Read the full article… ]