The cover reveal for Lisa Stringfellow's middle grade debut A Comb of Wishes took place recently! The cover was illustrated by Michael Machira Mwangi and designed by David Curtis. Read her author interview and an excerpt of the novel on Mr. Schu's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.
A Comb of Wishes is available for pre-order now.
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The cover reveal of Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow's latest picture book, Abdul's Story, happened this week on Tara Lazar's blog! The picture book was illustrated by Tiffany Rose with art direction by Tom Daly. Read the author interview here.
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The fourth book in Susan Muaddi Darraj’s Farah Rocks series releases on August 1, 2021, Farah Rocks Florida. Pre-orders are available now.
Sana Rafi's debut picture book, Little Seeds of Promise, releases on October 26, 2021 with Innovation Press and can also be pre-ordered.
Don't forget, you can see all our covers and order links on our website!
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Gathering Before Drafting: A Process for Pre-Writing Picture Books
Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow talks about her process for writing picture books:
"People often ask me about my writing process for a picture book (PB), including this question, which always trips me up: How do you go from an idea to a complete draft of a PB? I know the person asking is often looking for a strategy, but I never know how to simply describe my strategy in a clear way except to call it “gathering.” This article is my attempt to lay it out. Maybe, it will be useful to some writers out there. At the very least, I hope it will be entertaining."
Read more
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Also featured on the blog are interviews with Mélina Mangal, author of Jayden's Impossible Garden, Sarah Kamya, founder of the Little Free Diverse Library movement, and Reem Faruqi, author of Unsettled and two other 2021 releases.
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Summer is the perfect time to catch up on your reading and introduce new books to the children in your life. We've been busy reading and have some great recommendations to share!
- Valerie recommends Ty’s Travels: Beach Day by Kelly Starling Lyons and Nina Mata for your young reader. Grab a swimsuit, bucket and shovel, and this book for a fun day at the beach!
- Rashmi recommends Rea and the Blood of the Nectar, a debut middle grade fantasy by Payal Doshi. Get ready to join Rea, a 12-year old girl from Darjeeling, India, who travels through the fantastical world of Astranthia on a quest to rescue her twin brother and save magical realms!
- Lisa suggests Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall. Fans of the Percy Jackson books will enjoy this Mexican-American retelling of The Odyssey featuring five sisters who stumble upon the body of a man in a river and go on a magical quest to return him to his family. Aided by La Llorona, the girls battle witches and monsters and learn the true meaning of sisterhood.
- Kirstie just finished Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons: An Enslaved Woman Fights for Freedom, a nonfiction picture book by Gwendolyn Hooks. Enslaved by Martha and George Washington, Ona Judge was skilled in fabrics and made beautiful dresses. She was so valued that she was one of the few chosen to travel with the Washingtons. While on one of these trips, she witnessed free Black people living in Philadelphia which sparked something in Ona - a desire to be free by any means necessary.
- Aya recently finished reading Unsettled, a middle grade novel in verse written by Reem Faruqi. It’s about a girl named Nurah who immigrated to Georgia with her family and the struggles she faces!
- Jamilah suggests Farah Rocks Summer Break, book 2 in Susan Muaddi Darraj’s Farah Rocks chapter book series, for unputdownable reading about a take-charge girl who works hard to earn money to go to the summer camp of her dreams.
- Sana loved reading With The Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo. This young adult novel takes us into the complicated world of Emoni Santiago, a teenager who is grappling with motherhood, high school, and her love for cooking.
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Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow’s Salat in Secret (illustrated by Hatem Aly) was acquired by Ann Kelley at Random House Studio. This book about a little boy looking for a secret place to perform salat (prayer) in school will be published in summer 2023.
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- Lisa Stringfellow and science fiction and fantasy author K. Tempest Bradford are partnering for The Author’s Web Toolkit, a pair of weekend webinars designed to help writers create and maintain a website and a social media presence even if they aren't tech-savvy or trained in digital marketing. The webinars take place July 24 & 25, 2021 and participants can register for just one or both.
- Valerie Bolling will be one of the presenters at SCBWI’s BIG FIVE-0H Summer Conference. She will be on a panel with Janae Marks, Ernesto Cisneros, and Tammi Sauer, discussing their paths to publication.
- Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow is a featured author in this year’s Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival. Kicking off in August, this project of the Indigo Arts Alliance celebrates Black children’s books created by Black authors and illustrators.
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- Susan Muaddi Darraj, Kirstie Myvett, and Valerie Bolling hosted a panel on “Writing and Modeling Anti-Racism for Young Readers” at the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at University of Southern Mississippi.
- Sana Rafi participated in a picture book panel moderated by Rashmi Bismark for the Desi KidLit Summit this Spring. The event was featured in South Asian Today.
- Valerie Bolling published two articles in March, “Why Children Need to See Themselves in Books” with ILA and “Poetry Is the Light: Children Need to Let Their Words Shine” with NCTE.
- Tameka Fryer Brown chatted and chatted some more with Laura Backes of Children’s Book Insider, co-Dewdney Award winner AG Ford, and co-founders Kanika Mobley and Vanessa Mitchell of Stories of A Colorful World.
- Rashmi Bismark spoke with Seed & Sew for their Voices of Your Village podcast about Finding Om, mindfulness, and strategies for centering, self-regulation, and connection. Episode to air this summer. She also offered a read-aloud of Finding Om as a part of YOGA AID, a 2-day virtual yoga symposium by Monisha Raja and Eddie Stern in support of Covid relief for India.
- Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow began working as committee member of the Highlights Foundation’s Muslim Storytellers Fellowship, a program that aims to “[create] space for more diverse, authentic Muslim narratives for children and young adults.”
- Lisa Stringfellow published her first article with Edutopia in June, "Summer Reading To Inspire Middle School Activists". Lisa also started a Little Free Library in her neighborhood that features books for children by BIPOC creators. Its unique book cover shingles were featured in Publisher's Weekly.
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- Jamilah loves We Are Still Here: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell and Frané Lessac. Through this book, I have learned about the historical and present-day actions of Native Nations to persevere and continue to say “We are still here!”
- Tameka loves Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper. With Unspeakable, Weatherford and Cooper have crafted a phenomenal resource for sharing this historical truth with young people, a truth that has finally reached the fore of America’s collective consciousness.
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Aya loves Halal Hotdogs by Susannah Aziz and Sana loves In My Mosque by M.O. Yuksel and Hatem Aly
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