I first met Shannan in happier times, relishing our roles as volunteers at the Kaigler Book Festival. Getting to know the presenters up close and personal is a perk of that job, and a second is the friendships that form among the volunteers who often come back from year to year for what amounts to an old home week. I quickly discovered that we shared a love of books for all ages and that her wicked sense of humor kept people laughing. A glimpse her personality shows when her emails come from “Librarian Barbie.” Missing a visit with her was one of the disappointments when the festival was cancelled this year. Last week added another dark cloud.
With the George Floyd murder, Shannan’s changed attitude caused her to deliver a mandate on Facebook.
I’m issuing a challenge to all my non-Black friends. Black folks, y’all can do this too, but I want my non-Black friends to step out of a comfort zone. This week, I want you to download a book, read a current one on your shelf or check out an e-book or audiobook from your public library by a BLACK author. It doesn’t have to be a long or heavy book, just pick one.
Like many white people who care about this needless death, I had been at a loss to think of a way one gray-headed white woman under quarantine could make any difference. Shannan’s challenge seemed like a good place to start, and I’d like to pass it along to my readers.
I am listing some of my old and new personal favorites by Black authors and illustrators that form just a tip of the iceberg of their wonderful books to get you started.
Picture Books:
Freddi Williams Evans – A Bus of Our Own and Hush Harbor: Praying in Secret – the first book based on a true story she heard at her uncle’s funeral and the second reaching back to the days when enslaved people found their own place to worship
Don Tate – who has both written and illustrated a number of books with African American little-known movers and shakers including It Jes’ Happened and The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch
Carole Boston Weatherford – Like Don with a multitude of real people and untold stories of Black history including my favorites Freedom in Congo Square and Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer
Nikki Grimes – who fits in several age categories as a poet and wrote Southwest Sunrise that I reviewed in my Monday blog and Words with Wings that has a permanent face-out place on my bookcase for easy reach when I feel the need of a pick-me-up poem
Jerry Pinkney – an abundance of beautiful picture books, including his Caldecott Medal winner The Lion and the Mouse, based on Aesop’s tale
Javaka Steptoe – whom I can’t leave out since grandson Owen loved Radiant Child so much.
Middle Grade:
Linda Williams Jackson – Midnight Without a Moon and A Sky Full of Stars – a Mississippi author with this book pair set during the Civil Rights Era
Rita Williams Garcia – many great books but the Gaither Sisters Trilogy will take you into the hearts of three sisters, with the oldest Delphine leading the pack
Jacqueline Woodson – from picture books like my favorite The Other Side to tough young adult – take your pick. Mine would be Brown Girl Dreaming that made me remember Maya Angelou’s chorus she repeats at the end of her poem “we are all more alike than we are unalike.” A poetic memoir, this book depicts Jacqueline’s older sister in a role of assistant mother and took me back to the days when, for different reasons, I was much the same for my youngest sister Ruth. I bought the book for Ruth, noting the places where our lives were similar. When she finished reading, she sent me a list of more similarities.
Christopher Paul Curtis – in the picture with Shannan the year he came to the book festival – who doesn’t know how to write a bad book – His most famous probably is The Watsons Go to Birmingham, but you really shouldn’t miss Bud, Not Buddy or Elijah of Buxton.
Young adult:
Angie Thomas – a Mississippi phenomenon with The Hate U Give and On the Come Up – with her own background of Black for her heritage and Blue for her family police officers, her books give a tough but balanced look at our world today.
Sharon Draper – Out of My Mind – in my opinion, the best book ever featuring a young person with a disability
Jason Reynolds – with multiple books and a commitment to his readers – As Brave as You is a good place to start
Adult:
Jesmyn Ward – draws a strikingly realistic picture of South Mississippi life in her memoir Men We Reaped and in her novels Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing.
Bryan Stephenson – Just Mercy, and if you’ve seen the movie, read the book anyway
Sarah M. Broom – The Yellow House, a memoir set in New Orleans with all the rough times of recent years
Obviously, I could go on, but your attention span might run out. I am going to end with my own piece of advice to add to Shannan’s. If you have a child or young person who is meaningful in your life, buy them a book – or books – by Black authors and illustrators. Watch their hearts grow empathetic and inclusive as they read.