Here’s my sure-fire way to test if a new picture book sings. I read it to my daughter. She’s a tell-it-like-it-is sort of girl. If it’s boring, she’ll let me know flat out before moving on to other things. When Olu’s Dream (HarperCollins, 2009) arrived, she excitedly checked out the cover. She flipped through the pages. “Can [ Read the full article… ]
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… ]
When Monalisa DeGross set out to be a writer, she began by writing what she read — romance. It was an editor who turned her eye to the possibility of writing for children. DeGross considered the young people she knew. She thought about her love of words and the storytelling tradition in her mother’s family. Those [ Read the full article… ]
There are some authors who change the way you look at literature. Through their words, you are sent to unexpected places and leave transformed by the journey. You connect to characters whose stories, whether foreign or familiar, hit you where it counts — in the heart. Jacqueline Woodson did that for me. The first Woodson book I read [ Read the full article… ]
Evelyn Coleman is candid about her life as an author and what her publishing experience has been like for the past fifteen years since her first book, The Foot Warmer and the Crow, was published. Her resume is extensive and shows that she values her calling as an author. She respects the craft of writing [ Read the full article… ]
There’s probably not a children’s author out there who hasn’t had to answer the question, “So what’s it like writing for children? How do you do it?” I always have an answer, but it’s something that’s much easier answered by simply picking up a children’s book and reading it. Once you do, you realize that [ Read the full article… ]
Derrick Barnes is no stranger to the Brown Bookshelf community. Last year, we did a spotlight on his book The Making of Dr. Truelove as well as announced the debut of the Ruby and the Booker Boys series. In case it is not clear, the future is bright for author Derrick Barnes. Full of optimism, [ Read the full article… ]
When Shane W. Evans was a child, a friend of his family invited him to help rehab an old building. Together, they transformed it into a working art studio. Afterwards, Shane enjoyed watching his friend and mentor create large detailed artwork, in the studio they’d worked on together. Within Shane, that experience produced a dream [ Read the full article… ]