Shadra Strickland is the illustrator behind the book BIRD, written by Zetta Elliott. Congrats! (announcement here) (interview here).

I first met Vanesse J. Lloyd-Sgambati at BookExpo America. She congratulated me on the debut of One Million Men and Me and said she’d be in touch about having me sign at her book fair, The African American Children’s Book Fair in Philadelphia. I was thrilled, but had no idea about the event’s important history and what it would [ Read the full article… ]

Yesterday, The American Library Association announced the 2009 Youth Media Award winners. There was much to be excited about, so much to celebrate. But I was most thrilled with the recipient of the John Steptoe Award, given by the Coretta Scott King Task Force. This award is given to affirm African American writers and illustrators [ Read the full article… ]

[Insert the scratching and drums intro to the Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff’s jam, Summer Time] The following are some of the winners from this year’s ALA Mid-Winter: *Denotes a Brown Bookshelf Spotlight, past or present Forgive me, some of the books do not have the author because I took the winner list from a [ Read the full article… ]

The First Annual African American Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference will take place on April 25, 2009. Speakers and faculty: Sarah Ketchersid—Senior Editor, Candlewick Press Eileen Robinson—Children’s book editor, editorial consultant and creator of F1rst Pages. For almost 10 years, she has acquired, developed, and edited children’s books for both Scholastic as Executive Editor, [ Read the full article… ]

Than never. Isn’t that the old saying? If you’re wondering where the 28 Days Later list is because we promised it on Martin Luther King’s actual birthday (Jan. 15) wait no longer. My dad passed last week and as I tended to my and my mom’s needs, my Brown Bookshelf family handled the release preparation. [ Read the full article… ]

We hear a lot about the need to get more boys reading. According to a 2000 study cited by the National Center for Education Statistics, boys lagged behind girls in reading performance across all age groups. Experts say the reading gap for African-American and Latino young men is even more pronounced. There are lots of factors that contribute [ Read the full article… ]

The fact that the Coretta Scott King award does not evoke as much “who will win?” chatter as the Newbery and Caldecott, in my opinion, is simply more proof that too often the books for and by African Americans remain somewhat on the periphery of children’s literature. But that’s what places like The Brown Bookshelf [ Read the full article… ]