Archive for September, 2020

7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #707: Featuring Rachelle Baker

h1 Sunday, September 6th, 2020


“Some words, when they CONNECT with the right people, become almost like potions or spells. These words become magical. That’s the way it was with Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and verbs. She understood, almost intuitively, how and why verbs are not just words about being, but doing. Verbs are words that move the world forward.”


 
Let’s take a look today at a new picture book about politician Shirley Chisholm, who made history in 1968 by becoming the first black woman elected to the United States Congress. This biography—Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb! (Dial, July 2020), illustrated by Rachelle Baker—comes from author Veronica Chambers, who writes in a closing “personal note” that, as a child growing up in Brooklyn, she remembers seeing posters (“SHIRLEY CHISHOLM FOR CONGRESS”) in her neighborhood. She writes that “because of Shirley Chisholm, I thought, ‘I could be a congresswoman.’ After all, I passed a picture of a woman who looked a lot like me, who had that job.”

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My Chapter 16 Q&A with Renée Watson

h1 Thursday, September 3rd, 2020



 

I had the pleasure once again of interviewing author Renée Watson. We chat over at Tennessee’s Chapter 16. Renée will speak at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books (a Nashville event that will be virtual this year). She will be in conversation with Meg Medina on October 8; see the full festival schedule here.

She and I discuss Ways to Make Sunshine, illustrated by artist Nina Mata; the future of the I, Too Arts Collective; Portland; her hopes for children’s book publishing today; and more.

That interview is here.

Some Slow-Down-Why-Don’t-You Before Breakfast

h1 Tuesday, September 1st, 2020


“Old dog and small girl walk side by side.”


 
Oh, the beautiful places Martha Brockenbrough goes in her newest picture book. This Old Dog (September 2020), illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo, is one of the first releases from Arthur Levine’s new independent publishing house, Levine Querido. And it’s a story about not letting life pass you by.

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