Charisse Carney-Nunes wanted her daughter to see the strength and heritage of her hair. So she wrote a poem of celebration called “Nappy.” She included that poem in her first book, Songs of a Sistermom (Brand Nu Words, 2004). But she had no idea that it would begin her journey as a children’s book author too. Then she read [ Read the full article… ]

The Brown Bookshelf’s Don Tate talks with Amy Bowllan about the impact of racism on him, his work and more in School Library Journal’s ongoing (and excellent) Writers Against Racism series. Quotable to live by: “Were human, and were not always comfortable with what we don’t know.”

Be sure to check out Paula Chase-Hyman’s interview in The Examiner about why YA is the new hotness. From the article: Reason #5. YA novels enable their young readers to process problems and situations from a safe distance. They show how someone the reader’s age would deal with problems that are typical for that reader’s [ Read the full article… ]

Do you blog about children’s and young adult books? Are you interested in blogging about children’s and YA books? Maybe you should attend the 3rd Annual KidLitosphere Conference. From the website: The Kidlitosphere Conference is an annual gathering of the Society of Bloggers in Children’s and Young Adult Literature. The 2009 conference will take place [ Read the full article… ]

Lee & Low Books, an award-winning publisher of quality multicultural books for children, is looking for skilled artists of color who can bring picture book stories to life with originality and authenticity. Their books feature children/people of color and fall within a range of genres including contemporary and historical fiction, biography, poetry, nonfiction, and more. [ Read the full article… ]

What do your teen readers think was the best YA in 2009? YALSA wants to know. Send your teen voters over to YALSA and let’s make sure some brown books are represented.

Check out the trailer for Kelly Starling Lyons, One Million Men and Me. Kelly also has some fun printable pages for the kiddies on her blog. Share it with a young reader, today. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOAvCe8vjMA&hl=en&fs=1&]

For those who have followed the Liar cover controversy, Bloomsbury has created a new cover, with this statement to PW: “We regret that our original creative direction for Liar—which was intended to symbolically reflect the narrator’s complex psychological makeup—has been interpreted by some as a calculated decision to mask the character’s ethnicity.” It’s a start. [ Read the full article… ]