Jason Reynolds is the Day 4 featured author of The Brown Bookshelf’s 2014 28 Days Later. He is the author of two books, My Name is Jason and Mine Too: Our Story, Our Way. His debut novel is When I Was The Greatest. Read more about Jason Reynolds and his work on The Brown Bookshelf.
The Brown Bookshelf 28 Days Later Day 3: Octavia Spencer
Award winning actress Octavia Spencer is now a children’s author. Read about her and her book, Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective, on The Brown Bookshelf.
The Brown Bookshelf 28 Days Later Day 2: Colin Bootman
Colin Bootman, award winning author and illustrator is Day 2’s feature of the 2014 28 Days Later hosted by The Brown Bookshelf. His has illustrated many books. Some of his famous books include: Almost To Freedom, In Momma’s Kitchen, A Picture Book of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Dad, Jackie, and Me.
For more information about Bootman, check out The Brown Bookshelf
His website is http://www.colinbootman.net
2014 African American Read-In
The National Council of Teachers of English is celebrating its 25th Annual African American Read-In. Information about this event can be found by clicking here.
Churches, community organizations, schools, libraries and bookstores can participate in this event. The event can be simple or elaborate, with the focus on literacy, using any works written by African Americans. The event must be held during the month of February. After the event, a brief report must be submitted to NCTE.
The Brown Bookshelf Day 1 of 28 Days Later
The Brown Bookshelf, a group of African American children’s and young adult authors and illustrators, hosts it annual 28 Days Later. 28 Days Later showcases some of the best African American children’s and young adult authors and illustrators.
Day 1 features Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of human rights activists, the late Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz. She is the author of Growing Up X and a children’s book, Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X. Read more about Ms. Shabazz by clicking here.
Zora and Me
This week, the Zora Neale Hurston Organization is hosting its annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival in Eatonville, Florida. This is the 25th year of the festival and it is a week-long celebration with workshops, activities, and other events. I mention this festival as a segue into my review of the children’s book, Zora and Me.
Zora and Me, written by Victoria Simon and T.R. Simon, imagines the childhood of Zora in Eatonville, Florida. The story is narrated by Carrie and Zora’s storytelling gives Carrie plenty to say. When a decapitated body is found on a railroad track, Zora creates a believable yet scary story that she is willing to tell anyone who wants to hear it. In fact, Zora also believes she knows the murderer, and, recruiting Carrie and her friend Teddy, goes to many lengths to prove her theory.
Zora and Me is beautifully written, with Carrie’s voice that draws one into the mystery. Carrie and Teddy are fully developed characters and just the right friends for the imaginative Zora. Other characters are developed, too, and the issues of race, particularly passing, racism, poverty, and equality are woven carefully in the story as the mystery unfolds and reveals the killer.
Zora and Me has won a few awards, including the The Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe New Talent Award.
A discussion guide and lesson plans are available for this book. The discussion guide can be accessed by clicking here: http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763643009.bdg.1.pdf
The lesson plan, and other resources can be found on The Teaching Books.Net: http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=21622&a=1
Zora and Me, 192 pages. Hardcover: 978-0763643003; Paperback: 978-0763658144 Grades 5 and up.
ALA Youth Media Awards You Might Not See Elsewhere
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I’m still at ALA with one more day for Best Fiction in Young Adult committee meetings. We have a few more books to discuss, then we vote on what books to add to the list and what books need to be in our Top Ten. Flights are getting canceled all over the country, so I’m hoping one more day here will get me home with no delays.
In the meantime, I’m finding out that a few of the books awards just aren’t getting posted to ALA sites. I’m excited about these well deserving titles and am going to post all the Ethnic Awards right here in one place. Much congratulations to all the winners that I’m so happy to mention.
The organizations sponsoring awards announced yesterday have varying relationships with the American Library Association. American Indian Library Association, Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, Black Caucus of ALA,
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30 Years of the Virginia Hamilton Conference
“Pearls of Wisdom:
Celebrating 30 Years of the Virginia Hamilton Conference”
The 30th Annual Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth will be held on Thursday, April 3, and Friday, April 4, 2014, at the Kent State University Student Center. The conference provides a forum for discussion of multicultural themes and issues in literature for children and young adults. “Pearls of Wisdom: Celebrating 30 Years of the Virginia Hamilton Conference”is the theme for this year’s conference, which will feature the remarkable Christopher Paul Curtis, the talented Andrea Davis Pinkney and the amazing illustrator, David Diaz. The Virginia Hamilton Conference is pleased to be a forum that brings together renowned national and local writers, illustrators, librarians, teachers, students and scholars and showcases some of the country’s top talents in multicultural literature for youth. The April 3 evening program includes a pasta dinner, a keynote address by…
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Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Later this month, the 2014 Coretta Scott King Book Award Committee will announce the authors and illustrators recipients. “The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.”
I look forward to hearing the announcements. This announcement, as well as others, are part of the American Library Association Youth Media Awards. Many of us have called these awards the Academy Awards for authors and illustrators. These award winning books and media not only honors the authors and illustrators, but also tells the world that these are books that should be read.
Some time ago, I challenged myself to read the honor and award books from the Coretta Scott King Book Awards list http://www.ala.org/emiert/coretta-scott-king-book-awards-all-recipients-1970-present So I shall continue the challenge this year, and begin to read these books. If you do not have a reading challenge, and there are many, you can certainly join me in this challenge!
Happy reading!
2013 African American Fiction for Teens
It’s that time of year again! Edi Campbell kindly gave me her list of 2013 books by PoC (people of color) and I pulled out the fiction books by Black authors (middle grade and young adult). As always, if you see that we’ve missed a title, please let us know. I have not added titles from Saddleback Educational Publishing, a press devoted to hi-lo fiction for teens. You can find Saddelback’s Black authors on our 2011 and 2012 lists. Two of the titles are reprints. Walter Dean Myers, outgoing National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, had a good year with 3 titles; Amar’e Stoudemire and Kelli London had 2 titles each, as did Ni-Ni Simone and Amir Abrams. How many of the remaining authors made their debut in 2013? Less than ten, by my count. According to a recent article in New York Magazine, there were over…
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The CamaraIfe Maktaba 