On her website, Irene Smalls writes that she grew up in a home without books. There were no bedtime tales or cozy reading nooks. Instead, she discovered the magic of storytelling in school. Her teacher used songs, games and dance to bring stories to life. That awakened a joy inside her that lasted into adulthood. Smalls has been Miss Black [ Read the full article… ]
A teacher’s classroom is always abuzz with activity from the students and teacher engaged in learning. I can only imagine the level of buzz in author Karen English’s classroom. As she works with her students and listens to them, the wheels in her mind are turning as she creates stories from what she sees and [ Read the full article… ]
When I first wrote this introduction, I described John Holyfield as a successful children’s book illustrator. However, I’ve come to realize that description comes up short. John Holyfield, first and foremost, is a caring father. He’s a successful fine artist, a painter, a hard-working entrepreneur. And, oh yea, a children’s book illustrator, too. John’s debut [ Read the full article… ]
Growing up, Tonya Bolden thought one day she would be a teacher. Today, as an award-winning author of more than 20 books for young people and adults, she is just that. Her classroom has no walls. Instead, you just need to pick up one her acclaimed books on topics such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., George [ Read the full article… ]
For the longest time, whenever anyone mentioned “Science Fiction Author” and “African-American” in the same sentence, the only author that came to mind was the late, great Octavia Butler. However, times are a-changing. Author Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu was born in the United States to two Igbo (Nigerian) immigrant parents, and currently resides in the suburbs of [ Read the full article… ]
Typically, when you think of an author/illustrator, you think of someone who combines words with paintings or drawings to tell a story. But author/illustrator Nina Crews is not your typical storyteller — she’s extraordinary, and chooses to illustrate her stories with photographs. “I fell in love with photography in college,” she says. “While I studied [ Read the full article… ]
When I was a first year teacher, I was introduced to Vanguard author Rita Williams-Garcia by a fellow teacher through her young adult novel Like Sisters on the Homefront in 1998. I never imagined then that one day I would be able to have dialogue with her about her writing and career as an author. [ Read the full article… ]
If you dropped by here earlier today and tried to download our 28 Days Later poster, I need to apologize. We had major problems…or, more specifically, I had major problems. I’ll spare you the technical gobbledegook. But after a long day and many, many, many error messages, I think the poster is finally good to [ Read the full article… ]