Those Who Paved the Way

As we enter awards season, it’s the time to celebrate new voices, but also to pay homage to those who paved the way. So in the spirit of the new year, here’s a quiz on some African-American children’s literature trailblazers:

1. The first Coretta Scott King Award was given in 1970. Who received it?
A. Sharon Bell Mathis, author of Ray Charles
B. Lillie Patterson, author of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace
C. Camille Yarborough, author of Cornrows
D. Charlemae Rollins, author of Black Troubadour: Langston Hughes

2. In 1972, this man was the first black artist to receive a Caldecott Honor:
A. John Steptoe for Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
B. George Ford for Ray Charles
C. Jerry Pinkney for Mirandy and Brother Wind
D. Tom Feelings for Moja Means One: A Swahili Counting Book

3. What year did the American Library Association recognize the Coretta Scott King Award as an official association award?
A. 1970
B. 1991
C. 1982
D. 1976

4. Who was the first African-American author to win a Newbery Medal?
A. Mildred Taylor
B. Virginia Hamilton
C. Christopher Paul CurtisD. Sharon Bell Mathis

5. Bonus: What was the book?
A. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
B. The Hundred Penny Box
C. MC Higgins, The Great
D. Bud, Not Buddy

6. What was the name of the children’s magazine co-edited by W.E.B. DuBois and published by the NAACP in the 1920s?
A. The Brownies’ Book
B. The Renaissance Reader
C. Negro Voices
D. Black Song

7. Bonus: How much did it cost per copy?
A. $1
B. 15 cents
C. 25 cents
D. 50 cents

8. In the 1890s, what black poet published, Little Brown Baby, a collection of children’s verse?
A. Langston Hughes
B. Joshua McCarter Simpson
C. Paul Laurence Dunbar
D. George Moses Horton

9. What black author won the first ever Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature?
A. Walter Dean Myers
B. Louise Meriwether
C. Rosa Guy
D. June Jordan

Answers:
1. B. For more information on Coretta Scott King Awards, please visit: http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bookmediaawards&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=165544

2. D. For more about Tom Feelings, please visit: http://www.answers.com/topic/tom-feelings

3. C. For more about Coretta Scott King Awards, please see above.

4. B. For more about Virginia Hamilton, please visit: http://www.virginiahamilton.com/

5. C.

6. A. For more about The Brownies’ Book, please visit: http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/brownies_book.htm and http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2370/

7. B.

8. C. For more about Paul Laurence Dunbar, please visit: http://www.dunbarsite.org/

9. A. For more about Walter Dean Myers, please visit http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/.
For more about the Printz Award, please visit: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/Printz__Michael_L__Award.cfm

The Brown Bookshelf - Announcing the Honorees

Thank you for your support of The Brown Bookshelf. We received more than 100 nominations of African-American children's book authors to consider including in our upcoming 28 Days Later campaign. Our deliberations have finally ended.

On Jan. 15, we announced the 28 authors and four illustrators we'll feature in our Black History Month initiative to push awareness of the wonderful African-American authors creating literature for children. Congratulations to all of the honorees!

You can check out the list at http://www.thebrownbookshelf.com/. There's also a color poster, created by team member and illustrator Don Tate, available for free download.Thanks again for helping us shine the light on outstanding black children's book authors and illustrators. Please help us spread the word about their achievements.

Happy New Year!

My first picture book, One Million Men and Me, debuted in October. What a blessing. I've attended conferences and festivals, visited schools and libraries. I am so grateful for this chance to celebrate a father-daughter relationship and let a new generation know about the beauty of the Million Man March. Thank you Just Us Books and illustrator Peter Ambush for making my dream come true!

Here are some of last year's highlights:

Honors and Reviews:

The Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) selected One Million Men and Me for the forthcoming edition of CCBC Choices, its annual best-of-the-year list. Choices features annotated entries of books for children and teens recommended by CCBC staff. CCBC Choices 2008 will be available in March. For more about CCBC, please visit:

http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/


Disilgold Soul Magazine's YOUNITY Guild Awards honored me with the Most Outstanding Debut Children's Book Author of the Year title.

One Million Men and Me also won good reviews. You can check them out at:

http://www.kellystarlinglyons.com/work2.htm

Best Experiences:

The end of every year brings dozens of best lists: best movies, best books, best songs. I'd like to offer another a different kind of list. Here are my best author experiences of 2007 -- moments that moved me, made me puff with pride and raise my hands in joy.

Best Goosebump Moment
My daughter and I visited a local Barnes & Noble searching a new book. We browsed the picture book section and saw five copies of my book! I turned one face out and smiled all the way home. There's nothing like that thrill.

Best Event

I've admired the Multicultural Children's Book Festival at the Kennedy Center http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/bookfestival/ since I first heard about it. I dreamed of the day I would be there too. That happened last year! I met veterans like Tonya Bolden, Christopher Myers, Jerdine Nolen, Lulu Delacre. I watched as scores of people of different cultures and backgrounds streamed around to celebrate literature reflecting children of color. I had the chance to sign copies of One Million Men and Me in the city where it happened.


Here are some more stand-out moments:


I met twin girls whose dad pushed them in a stroller around the Million Man March when they were 4-month-old infants.


A father looked at the cover with my character, Nia, on her dads's shoulders and remembered carrying his own daughter around the March that way.


Women proudly told me they took their sons to the March or cheered their husbands as they went.


Men smiled as they flipped through the pages and said it took them back to that historic event.


Two boys who won gift certificates from their school for earning good grades used them to buy copies of my book. Doesn't get much better than that :).


Best Letters


Ms. Starling Lyons,

thank you for the book. I like the part when they prayed together that might stop the fighting around here.

Thanks, Tayjah

********

I love your book, One Million Men and Me. I like it when it says: I am a Man. I am one in a million. That was my favorite part.

Kayla

********

Dear Ms. Starlings,

I love your book One Million Men and Me. It reminds me of a lot of men in my family. It's a very, very, very nice book. Thank you for coming to my school.

Your friend,
Chalayia

******** ********


These are just a few of the wonderful letters students have sent me. Thanks so much to every child who wrote me about One Million Men and Me. I cherish and save every note.

Best of the Best

At bedtime, my husband and I take turns reading our daughter stories. She goes over to her bookshelf and chooses her favorite. Then, we take off on a reading adventure together. One night, she handed me my book. I smiled and asked her if she was sure she wanted me to read it to her again. She nodded her head and said: "Yes, mama, it's my favorite because you wrote it."

Now, that I've shared some of my blessings, it's off to 2008. Can you believe it's already Jan. 4, whew. I better get writing :).

My book goals for this year are to keep spreading the word about One Million Men and Me, land another picture book deal and start planning promotion for my forthcoming picture book with Penguin/GP Putnam's Sons. (I'm really excited about this story. It was inspired by researching my family tree and explores an important time in black history. Look for more details later this year.)

I also want to make more time to read. During the Christmas holiday, I read so many great stories -- The Old African by Julius Lester, 47 by Walter Mosley, the Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington. Then, I picked up a powerful middle-grade novel by Sharon Bell Mathis called Listen for the Fig Tree. I couldn't put it down. That story wove a spell around me that still lingers. I'll post a review soon.

In the meantime, I wish you and your family peace, joy and abundant blessings in 2008. Thank you for your kindness and support.

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

Happy Birthday One Million Men and Me

My new picture book with illustrator Peter Ambush, One Million Men and Me, has officially debuted! I'm so excited. This story has been years in the making. I am so grateful to my publisher, Just Us Books, for signing this book and bringing it into print. Thanks, too, to Peter who did a beautiful job bringing the story to life.

I belong to a wonderful yahoo! listserv called AACBWI (African American Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). Recently, moderator Karen Strong asked us to share the story of how our latest book came to be. Reflecting on that journey brought back so many memories -- joy and pride of being at the March, contentment of finally getting the story onto paper. This is a book I felt called to write.

So here's the story behind One Million Men and Me:

In 1995, I attended the Million Man March and was transformed by what I saw. So many images touched me -- a sea of Black men spread like a quilt across the Washington Mall, brothers of all beliefs and backgrounds hugging and praying as the voices of speakers soared around them, an amazing youth addressing the masses like that was what he was born to do. Then, I saw a little girl walk past the Reflecting Pool clutching her daddy's hand. Her eyes, big as quarters, glittered like diamonds. She looked like a little princess among kings.

A decade later, I started working on the draft of One Million Men and Me, a picture book story that would show the March through the eyes of a little girl who was there with her daddy the day black men made history. I struggled at first to get my idea on paper. I tried to write it as a narrative, but it wouldn't flow that way. I believed in the story, but felt frustrated and put it aside for a while. Then, I attended a fatherhood conference in NC where I live. As I looked at the beautiful men around me who clasped hands and worked together, I was taken back to the March. In a flash, I remembered the images that made me hold my head high and the poetry of that incredible moment in history. I went home and the draft came together in a matter of hours.

Just Us Books offered me a contract on my book later that year. It was the beginning of an exciting journey. One Million Men and Me is my first picture book, the realization of a dream. Editors pushed me to polish the story and make sure I added details that would help children get a sense of what this historic March was about.

I've gone to libraries and asked kids to tell me what they know about the Million Man March. They mention Dr. King, who was assassinated in 1968. For them, the MMM is just as distant as the March on Washington even though the MMM took place just 12 years ago.

I hope children are inspired to learn more about the March. I hope teachers and parents will talk to them about the men -- and women -- who were there that day and what it meant for our people. I would love for children to start asking men in their communities what it was like to be part of the March. These men are living history.

A cool part of the publication process was getting a chance to see my words brought to life by illustrator, Peter Ambush. He created such a sweet portrait of my main character Nia and her father. Creating a picture book really is a partnership. Author and illustrator are storytellers. It was an enriching experience to be part of that collaboration. I feel such pride when I look at the book cover. When I look back, the idea for One Million Men and Me was born at the March more than a decade ago. Now, it's a reality. It's still surreal to see my book on the shelf. I feel really blessed.

To celebrate the release of One Million Men and Me, Just Us Books has launched a national essay contest that asks children in first through fifth grade to write about the most memorable moment spent with a father or father-figure. There are cash prizes. Please spread the word and encourage kids you know to enter. Here's the link:

http://www.justusbooks.com/modules/content/index.php?id=87

Sweet Surprise

I went to the bookstore searching for my daughter's latest fascination, Fancy Nancy. I searched the shelves and jumped when I came across a familiar spine: Lyons/Ambush One Million Men and Me.

My book was on the shelves of a local Barnes & Noble. And in bulk. There were five copies. I turned one of them face-out and thanked the manager. It was a great visit and a sweet surprise.

The Incredible Stuff of Life

I'm working on a new picture book. It's inspired by a simple, yet delightful discovery my daughter made. I feel blessed to have a chance to see the world through her eyes -- wonder at the many shades of skin, glee at learning to somersault, pride at reading a word on her own. It's the stuff of life and to her, it's magic. As I watch her eyes sparkle, I'm caught up in the spell too. But then comes the tough part: How do I turn special moments like those into story gold?

As I write and rewrite, I keep pondering that question. Typically, I'm drawn to picture books that tackle big themes -- coping with separation from a loved one, overcoming racial divides. But lately, I've been marveling at the genius of authors who capture those every-day jewels of childhood and make them feel just as incredible as a child experiencing them the first time.

I admire the vision of authors who see a world in a child's painting or a celebration in a girl learning to skip or poetry in a girl in PJs longing to dance at her parent's fancy party.

These moments I've mentioned are all parts of wonderful picture book stories I've read recently. I discovered Lily Brown's Paintings by Angela Johnson and illustrated by E.B. Lewis on a trip to a library. My daughter and I read it over and over and keep finding something new to make us laugh or smile. It's a simple concept: A child drawing a picture. But oh, what a beautiful story. For me, it was like being given a pair of wings to fly back to my childhood.

Ready, Set, Skip by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Ann James called to me from a Barnes & Noble shelf. I connected with it right away. So did my 3-year-old daughter who had been yearning to skip but hadn't quite mastered it. After reading the book, I took a lead from the mama in the story and showed my daughter the hop, switch foot, hop that led Jane's main character to skipping victory. I cheered when my daughter did it on her own. We skipped around the house in joy.

Then, there's Mabel Dancing by Amy Hest and illustrated by Christine Davenier. I found this book a year ago and it still captivates me. Each time I read it, I become the little girl who's so entranced by the music, she dances down the stairs to her parent's party and lets her blanket cape float behind her. I dance with my daughter like Mabel's parents did with her and it's magic.

Picture books are some of the toughest stories to write. But when they're done well. They're a marvel.