In reading the articles and interviews about Linda Williams Jackson and her novel, Midnight Without a Moon, it is clear that this is no ordinary book about the Civil Rights movement. Even though the backdrop of this novel is the Emmitt Till story, Midnight Without A Moon is about so much more. Born [ Read the full article… ]
Day 8 begins our focus on book creators for older readers, starting with Leah Henderson whose debut middle grade novel One Shadow on the Wall is due out in June. Leah’s adventuresome spirit and love of stories helped her turn a passing encounter into her first novel. I first met Leah at the Kweli Writers Conference in Spring [ Read the full article… ]
As a child, Jeffery B. Weatherford had “large hands.” It was a fact that prompted a prediction from his grandmother: someday Jeffery would do something great with those hands. She was right. Jeffery Weatherford grew up to become a multi-talented fine artist and illustrator, who studied computer graphics and animation at Winston-Salem State University, on a full-ride scholarship. Fresh out of college, [ Read the full article… ]
Today we shine the spotlight on another debut picture book author, LaTisha Redding. Her first title, Calling the Water Drum (Lee & Low, December 2016, illus.by Aaron Boyd) is the story of Henri, a young immigrant from Haiti who loses his parents as they attempt to make their way “across the great waters” to America. [ Read the full article… ]
While working with this talented author on her 28 Days Later spotlight, I asked if there was something she would like for people to know about her. The email I received made me have one of those constant blinking moments. I’ll let you read it for yourself. Pay specific attention to her question at the end. [ Read the full article… ]
We at The Brown Bookshelf have been in countdown mode for a while now, excitedly waiting for this day–the commencement of our tenth 28 Days Later campaign! For those who may be joining our celebration for the first time, the goal of 28 Days Later is to promote increased awareness of black authors and illustrators creating books [ Read the full article… ]
Twenty-five years ago, Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati created the African American Children’s Book Fair in Philadelphia to spread the joy of reading and get books by black children’s book creators into kids’ hands. At that first event on a frosty day, 250 people attended. Today, more than 3,000 line up to buy books and meet black authors and [ Read the full article… ]
I’d like to start by saying that when I first saw this photo of Gwendolyn Hooks, I thought that she looked like the nicest person in the world. And now that I am the “newby” on The Brown Bookshelf team, and am ALWAYS in need of someone to show me the ropes, I can personally [ Read the full article… ]