28 Days Later Campaign Starts Today

Happy Monday, Everyone,

Please join us at The Brown Bookshelf as we celebrate some of the best under-the-radar and vanguard black children's books authors and illustrators. Our 28 Days Later campaign kicks off today with a spotlight on Marguerite Abouet. Each day during Black History Month, we'll profile one of our honorees. We hope you'll visit often and join us in saluting their work.

http://thebrownbookshelf.com/2010/01/31/marguerite-abouet/

Team member Don Tate created a 28 Days Later poster that's available for free download:

http://thebrownbookshelf.com/2010/01/28/28-days-later-2010-poster/

We hope it becomes a valued part of classrooms and libraries.

The Brown Bookshelf is a team of authors and illustrators dedicated to pushing awareness of the many African American voices writing for young readers. The team includes Paula Chase-Hyman, Varian Johnson, Don Tate, Kelly Starling Lyons, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Tameka Fryer Brown.

Sweet Review

Received this review of One Million Men and Me yesterday. So sweet. Made my day:

"I liked the story about the little girl who looks just like me. i met the author and she was really nice. she signed my book and was a lot of fun. i like learning about the girl who went on an important trip with a her dad because my dad works all the time, ...far away. i hope i can go on a trip with my dad one day." -- Tia, 6.

February Book Club Selections

Lower Elementary:



Who Will I Be Lord? by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by Sean Qualls
















First Pooch: The Obamas Pick a Pet by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Amy Bates













Upper Elementary:


Coretta by Ntozake Shange, illustrated by Kadir Nelson



Praise for Coretta:




"Poet and painter have joined forces to offer an indelible, emotional expression of the strength, beauty, and joy of one woman's character."


-- starred review, Booklist



Michelle by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by AG Ford

Virtual Book Club

For the past few years, I’ve facilitated book clubs that celebrate black children's book creators of today and the past. Sometimes, I get emails from parents, community group leaders and teachers asking me to recommend good books about children of color. So this year, I decided to take my virtual book club -- something I've featured on my website for a while -- to another level.

Every other month, I'll post four picture book titles -- two appropriate for preschool/young elementary readers and two for upper elementary readers. I may include craft ideas and other ways to bring the books to life in your home, classroom and library. The books will be written and/or illustrated by African-American authors and illustrators.

Please join us in reading these books and saluting the wonderful people who created them. If you enjoy a particular selection, please post a review on Amazon.com. Your feedback may help keep a good book in print. And please share your child's thoughts about the books here on my blog or on my FaceBook page. Let me know if you like the virtual book club idea too. That way, I'll know if this is something that's useful to you and your family.

A writing friend, Jeannine Montgomery, is starting a book club dedicated to boys. Go Jeannine! So I'll post a link to what she's doing too.

Also, to find more great reads about African-American children and teens, please check out The Brown Bookshelf, a site created by a team of black authors and illustrators dedicated to raising awareness of African-American children’s literature. I'm honored to be part of that group.

Finally, I created a few Listmania lists on Amazon.com that offer more wonderful books to consider sharing with young people you love:

Kelly’s Favorite Picture Books
Board & Early Picture Books Featuring African-American Children
Picture Books Featuring African-American Boys

Here’s to celebrating children’s literature every day.

Happy Reading!

Kelly

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Everybody!

Lots of great things happening. One of my forthcoming picture books is closer to publication. The illustrator is working on sketches. Can't wait to see them.

Took a mediabistro YA/MG class taught by Erica Sussman of HarperCollins. Really demanding, but I highly recommend it! My middle grade novel-in-progress is so much further along.

Claiming joy and peace in 2010 and wishing it for all of you.

Kelly's YouTube Channel

I never knew there was such a rich literary community on YouTube. I created a channel with some of my favorite book trailers and author interviews. I even saw some by my writing friends. Too cool.

Here's my channel:

Kelly's YouTube Channel

Happy Viewing!

Drum Roll Please . . .

Everyone,

Thank you so much for the great feedback on my trailer for One Million Men and Me. I'm happy to present the final version. Please let me know what you think.

Here's the trailer. Click the arrow to view:

I also created some free printables for the book:

Word Scramble

Bookmarks

Coloring Page

Please share with a child you know. Thank you so much for your support.