Straight from the Heart

Two summers ago, I attended the Writers Workshop at Chautauqua. It was incredible week full of inspiration and lessons. I learned so much from faculty members like my mentor Clay Winters and manuscript advisor, Patricia McKissack. I returned home with a notebook packed with priceless tips. But there's one pearl of wisdom I keep coming back to. Patti Lee Gauch, renowned editor and author, shared seven seven simple words that spoke straight to my heart:

Write the story only you can tell.

Have you ever had a moment when it feels like a crowded room clears and the speaker is talking right to you? That's how I felt.

I thought about growing up in working-class Pittsburgh, going on fishing trips with my grandparents to Lake Erie, admiring my single mom's courage and sacrifice. I thought of struggling to deal with the death of my grandfather, coming of age in a place where my cousins were my best friends.


Last week, I shared Patti's words with young people at a special camp. They were there to learn about the ways people in different careers integrate technology into their professsions. My workshop was on writing and publishing. I explored where to find ideas, talked about what makes a story and encouraged them to find their voice.

I asked the students to make idea lists. Then, their assignment was to choose one idea and do some freewriting. I told them to write quickly and without judgment. Just give their mind free reign to create. After 10 minutes, I asked if anyone wanted to share what they wrote. The students were hesitant at first, giggling a bit, looking away when we made eye contact. But one by one, many of them walked to the front of the classroom, held their paper with trembling hands and dared to bare their words:

They read passages about special parts of family reunions, experiences with dating, scary moments of nearly losing loved ones, important connections with dad. As they read, I saw writers being born.

A Dream World

Yesterday, I facilitated my girl's book club. Each month, we read two picture books by African-American authors and illustrators. My selections for July were Destiny's Gift by Nastasha Anatasia Tarpley and illustrated by Adjoa J. Burrowes and I Dream For You a World: A Covenant for Our Children by Charisse Carney-Nunes and illustrated by Ann Marie Williams.

Destiny's Gift, with its touching storyline about a girl's connection to a community bookstore, drew them right in. They loved the image of bookstore owner Mrs. Wade closing her eyes as Destiny read her stories. They felt sadness as they learned with Destiny that the bookstore might close for good. Their favorite pictures were those of celebration. One girl pointed out the balloons flying in the air and the smiling faces as the community came together to try to save the store. The final image of Mrs. Wade and Destiny hugging taught them that some situations are tough to figure out, but there's always hope .

Hope was a strong theme in our next book -- one of our group's favorites so far-- I Dream for You a World. This beautiful story poem makes the tenets of Tavis Smiley's best-seller, The Covenant with Black America, real and accessible for children. The girls eagerly discussed the way we could help bring Charisse's dream to life. Their eyes lit up as I reminded them we would speak to the author in a few minutes on speaker phone.

They proudly shared with me the questions they would ask her such as why she wrote the book, how she came up with the title and how she became an author. When we called, they kneeled around the phone, eyes wide with excitement as they listened to Charisse's answers. When she shared that she thought of being a writer in third grade, they tugged on each other's arms. Many of them are near or at that age.

Charisse's book imagines a world where all of our children have food, a good education, safe and clean communities, justice, a sense of history and freedom. It's a powerful message and it was a powerful meeting. The girls turned serious as they discussed what they want to see in our world: Clean highways. Fair trials. Democracy. Good schools for everyone.

Then, they created collages and drawings that brought their dream worlds to life.

One girl cut her construction paper into a triangle and pasted a beautiful mansion on it. Her dream was for everyone to have a house to live in, food to eat and tea parties :).

Another girl drew an earth-shaped American flag. Her mother is a lawyer. She dreamed of a world where everyone had justice.

Still another drew the world complete with named continents. She pasted smiling children all around. It expressed her desire for kids everywhere to have a safe, loving world to grow and thrive in.


What a world. What a gift Charisse's book is.

You don't know where you're going . . .

Okay, so I'm new at blogging. I've made excuses about being too busy. I've resisted it, head shaking back and forth, like a child being offered a spoonful of castor oil. But as I've read the many wonderful blogs out there (P, Don, Kyra & Librarygrl, that means you ;), I've been inspired to add my voice.

Blogging is a way to connect with a community that's working to empower and entertain children, just like I am. It's a way to go on a journey of discovery and revelation. It's a way to share some of the thoughts and ideas that swirl in my mind. So I've stood by the side long enough. I'm ready to take the leap into the world of blogs. I'll start at the beginning. Here's why I write:

I write for children because I want them to see their faces and hear their voices in stories. I write for children to help them discover parts of the world and themselves. I write for children to give back.

African-American children's literature has a rich history and tradition. From Langston Hughes to Christopher Paul Curtis, from Virginia Hamilton to Sharon G. Flake, authors and illustrators have celebrated children and explored their dreams, experiences and history.

But as a kid, I saw just one children's book written by a black author -- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. That's why I felt so drawn to multicultural children's books as an adult. One day, I saw a picture book called Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth and my life changed. Entranced, I read page after page until I reached the end. Then, I smiled, stroked the cover and read it again. If you haven't read it, you're in for something delightful.

The story takes you on a walk with a girl searching for "something beautiful" in her city neighborhood. She visits a laundromat, fruit stand and other places and learns what others consider beautiful. Then, she decides to create beauty herself by cleaning up her community. In the end, she learns who her mother considers the most beautiful person of all.

That book, just 32 pages, sent me through so many emotions -- wonder, sadness, fear, delight and finally contentment. The story was told with such economy and grace. It reminded me of the incredible power of children's literature. For an instant, I became that dreamy girl I used to be, who would warm her feet by the radiator on cold Pittsburgh days and lose and find herself over and over in the pages of books.

I write for children because so many others paved the way . . .

So in homage to those trailblazers, I'd like to thank some of the many authors who have inspired me:

Sharon Dennis Wyeth, Eleanora E. Tate, Wade & Cheryl Hudson, Madeleine L'Engle, thank you.
Virginia Hamilton, Mildred D. Taylor, Eve Bunting, Patricia & Fredrick McKissack, thank you.
Bernette and George Ford, Sharon Bell Mathis, Katherine Paterson, Walter Dean Myers, thank you.
Jacqueline Woodson, Carole Boston Weatherford, Amy Hest, Patricia Lee Gauch, thank you.
Angela Johnson, Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, Brenda Woods, thank you.

I would not be here without you.