The Brown Bookshelf presented at the Texas Library Association conference. Thank you to the Black Caucus of TLA who sponsored our session, Overlooked Books who hosted our signing and amazing librarians like the ones from Houston in the picture who showed us lots of love. Thank you to everyone who supports the work we do. Completing our [ Read the full article… ]
Category: General
The Brown Bookshelf at TLA
We’ve taken our 10th anniversary celebration on the road. Please join us today at 2:45 p.m. for our Texas Library Association session, Celebrating Diversity: The Brown Bookshelf Salutes Great Books for Kids (Room 303ABC, Ballroom level). The presenters are Gwendolyn Hooks and Kelly Starling Lyons. Here are the session hand-outs which include book lists and resources: BBS Booklist TLA TLA [ Read the full article… ]
Running Into Faith
I seem to keep running into Faith Ringgold. Not literally. I have never driven a car in New York. Her books seem to find their way into my hands and I saw one of her quilts in all its glory. Then I stumbled onto a fascinating article written by her daughter. I attended the American [ Read the full article… ]
Writing Through 45
My left arm for a time before 45 when I could get on Twitter or write a blog post for BBS and talk about books. Yes, that 45 – our current President. He’s changed everything, right down to how I function as an author. Anyone else with me? I hope so. Because some days I [ Read the full article… ]
Throwback Thursday: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Since we’re on the subject of boys and books from our Monday post, here’s some information about boys and reading: From The Guardian UK: The truth about boys and books: they read less — and skip pages. The Nation’s Report Card on student reading scores in 4th and 8th grade show that black children, and [ Read the full article… ]
11-year-old Starts Book Club for Boys
Most 11 year olds are playing Minecraft and into the latest bottle tossing craze. Sidney Keys III however, has recently started a book club for boys focused on helping them find characters who look like themselves. On a trip to the University City, Missouri bookstore EyeSeeMe, Sidney and his mom found an entire children’s book [ Read the full article… ]
Throwback Thursday: Lamar Giles
There is something extremely satisfying about being present at the start of a good thing. The beginning of Lamar Giles‘ career as a critically-acclaimed YA author was that good thing, and we at the The Brown Bookshelf are happy to have been there to celebrate it. Since our original feature on Giles and his first traditionally published YA [ Read the full article… ]
Throwback Thursday: Alice Randall and Caroline Williams
We first featured Alice Randall and Caroline Williams in 2013, after the publication of the joint debut middle grade novel, The Diary of B.B. Bright, Possible Princess, with illustrations by Shadra Strickland. Kirkus offered high praise: “Sweet, sassy and mystical, this novel deftly melds an old-fashioned story of princess preparation with the modern twist of [ Read the full article… ]