Introducing The Brown Bookshelf

According to the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC), less than two percent of children's books published last year were written by African American authors. Want the raw numbers? That's just 87 children's books by African-American authors out of an estimated 5,000 children's books published in 2006 overall.



When author Kyra E. Hicks shared that statistic on her blog and the African American Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (AACBWI) yahoo! listserv, I was shocked. I felt blessed to be a published, African-American children's book author, but saddened that there were still so few of us in print.



Sometimes we're faced with big issues and it feels overwhelming, like the enormity of it can just swallow us up. Other times, we search for small ways we can chip away at the problem. I found a way I could contribute when I was invited to be part of The Brown Bookshelf, a group dedicated to celebrating African-American authors writing for young readers. It will take time for children's book publishing to be more inclusive of African-American voices. But The Brown Bookshelf has embarked on a mission we can tackle right now -- letting parents, librarians, teachers and others know about wonderful black authors and books they've written.

November 1, The Brown Bookshelf officially launched. Members include founders Paula Chase and Varian Johnson, who are YA authors, illustrator/author Don Tate, author Carla Sarratt and me. That morning, we also announced our first campaign: 28 Days Later, an initiative to celebrate some of the best voices in African-American children's literature and shine a light on new African-American authors and good books that are being overlooked.

Our partners in this project are the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and AACBWI. We'd also like to count on you. We're taking recommendations of African-American authors offering the best in picture books, middle-grade and YA reads. Please nominate your favorite books and authors at this link:

http://thebrownbookshelf.com/28-days-later/

We can make a difference, one name at a time :).

Happy Reading,

Kelly