 Dear Friend, The Prizes were earlier launched in February, 2014 and the deadline for submissions of all entries is Sunday, June 29th at exactly 23: 59 GMT. This year, Golden Baobab will award six prizes worth $20,000. These six prizes are:
The prize packages also include the opportunity to publish with and receive royalties from Golden Baobab and/or Golden Baobab’s… |
View original post 208 more words
The weekend, Mother Reader’s 9th Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge will take place. I participated in this event a couple of times and truly enjoyed being able to set aside two glorious days for reading. This year, I honestly just 
cannot do the entire weekend, but given the nature of the Challenge this year, I plan to go for 24 hours. Going full force with #WeNeedMoreDiverseBooks, the creators of the event have decided to make this an all out diversity challenge. How will it work? This is from their site.
View original post 482 more words
“More than two decades ago Wade and Cheryl Hudson were parents on a desperate search for children’s books that reflected the diversity of Black history, heritage and experiences. Disappointed by the limited number and their unreliable availability, the couple embarked upon a mission: to produce the kind of positive, vibrant Black-interest books that they wanted for their own two children. ”
25 years and hundreds of titles later, JustUs Books remains committed to providing quality books for Black children. From concept books to chapter books to YA and poetry, JustUs provides classic and contemporary works that are important additions to any library.
Cheryl Hudson recently reached out to me to share an important list of Key Ingredients in Selecting Multicultural Books for Children. It’s such an important list, that I’m sharing it here along with her list of What You Can Do to Get More Multicultural Children’s Books in Stores…
View original post 27 more words
One of my recent blog posts ending with
Over the next few weeks, I hope to introduce you to few players who are recreating the game for the sake of our children. That’s what we have to remember, this is for our children.
I do have a couple of these posts, but I soon realized that Brown Bookshelf had the same idea and they have done a 
fantastic job of reaching out to individuals who creating amazing possibilities in kidlit. This week as part of their Making Our Own Market series, they feature self publisher authors and closed the week by asking readers to post the names of self published books they’ve read.
Last week, they began their series with CAKE Literary. Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton, the ladies behind CAKE Literary are creative, energetic and forward thinking entrepreneurs. Their recipe for success is creating quite a stir! I…
View original post 1,352 more words
In recent weeks, there has been a lot talk about the lack of diversity in children’s literature. Then the recent BEA BookCon nonsense in which an all-white male panel of “luminaries” in children’s literature was announced and the outrage was evident very quickly.
Yesterday, my students and I discussed the power of words and the effects our choice of words may have on others. We are reading Things Fall Apart and The Purple Hibiscus and language plays a powerful role in both books, along with gender roles and expectations. When I shared the Bookcon panel with my students they immediately realized the power given to a panel labeled as “luminaries”. We discussed how money talks and that when an all male, white panel is described as luminaries then people will buy their books. When people only buy books by white men or starring straight, white characters then that is what bookstores will…
View original post 791 more words
The Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award is currently seeking submissions to be considered for the 2015 award in two categories:
All submissions for 2015 must have a publication date of 2014 to be considered. To submit a book for considerations please send four copies of the book to:
Jesse Gainer, Director
Tomás Rivera Children’s Book Award
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Texas State University
601 University Drive
San Marcos, TX 78666
The Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, established in 1995, recognizes and honors authors and illustrators who create quality children’s literature that authentically depicts the Mexican American experience in the…
View original post 2 more words
title:
The Deep
author: Zetta Elliott
date: 2013; Rosetta Press
main character: Nyla
The Deep continues the stories of Nyla, Keem and D that began in Ship of Souls. While Ship of Souls was D’s story, The Deep is Nyla’s. We knew something happened to Nyla in Germany and now we find what it was and how that terror stole Nyla’s sense of self. She moves to Brooklyn with her stepmother and begins covering herself in an array of body piercings, spiked hair and black clothing. In appearance, she is oddly matched with Keem, an attractive athlete, but he seemed to give her the space and respect that she needed. She is as impulsive in her decision-making as any 14-year-old would be.
As a character, I found Nyla difficult to like just as I imagine a real life Nyla would be. A smart black girl struggling with so many personal…
View original post 361 more words
I’m thrilled that comics scholar Qiana Whitted took the time to write this amazing guest post—enjoy and please share!
***
It is unlikely that anyone who reads comics regularly will be surprised by Zetta Elliott’s answer to the question posed in her January 6, 2014 post, “Do Comics Empower Black Girls?” She’s doubtful, and understandably so, given the hypersexualized objectification of women that dominates superhero comics. Nevertheless, comics can tell deeply rewarding, complex stories about black women that affirm their intelligence, compassion, strength, and beauty on multiple visual and verbal registers. So I come away from the question with a different response, not only as someone who studies race and comics, but also as a black girl who has found much to love in a comic book!
Let’s be clear, though, about the term “comics.” Critics often take issue with the depiction of women in superhero titles produced by Marvel…
View original post 1,164 more words
I’ve been complaining for the past couple of years about the shrinking numbers of books written by authors of color. The CCBC’s number came out not too longer ago, only to validate this complaint. The number of books by African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and American Indians has been steadily decreasing since 2008, while the numbers of children of color in this country steadily increases. Zetta Elliott said it better than I can.
Despite this downward trend, Malinda Lo’s numbers indicates that BFYA continues to grow in its ability to embrace all teen readers.
The Feral Librarian speaks to the number of some of the gatekeepers, specifically librarians. Has anyone seen numbers on diversity in the gatekeepers in publishing?
Cynthia Leitich Smith speaks her mind on “Writing, Tonto & The Wise Cracking Minority Sidekick Who is the First to Die”.
My inspiration for this post was a Jan…
View original post 692 more words
The CamaraIfe Maktaba 