As soon as I arrived there was a feeling of family and camaraderie in the air! I overheard one of the authors talking to one of the volunteers and thought I heard East Chicago, IN ... well, when they were finished talking I went over to him and said "Did I hear you correctly? Are you from East Chicago, IN?" and he said ... "Well, yes ... yes I am!" I told him my dad was from that area and that I'm from Whiting ... WHAT A SMALL WORLD!
His name is Warren Landrum and he has several books published -- one of which is a book of poetry!
If you are looking for some really interesting books to add to your collection about Black History then these are books for you! Instead of studying people you know about ... these books will take you to another place and time and delve deeper into Black History. If you are interested you can click on this link to learn more about Quineka Ragsdale's series Demarcus Jones and the Solar Calendar .
I love when children come to my table and ask me questions about my books and also read them while talking to me! This little reader had many questions about Muffin & I hope she is a new FAN!
One of the guest speakers was Mary Monroe, who is a New York Times Best Selling Author.
Her speech was heartfelt and funny! She told us that when she was growing up, everyone told her she would NEVER have a book published -- she had received over 150 rejections -- but kept going! She now has 17 books out! and is doing quite well.
She told a VERY funny story about going back home to a family reunion and was "eavesdropping" on some cousins who were talking about her sister -- they said "Suzy is doing pretty well -- her and her boyfriend are off of drugs again (for now)." Both cousins agreed that this was wonderful and they were proud of Suzy. Then, one cousin said "what's Mary doing now?" and the other cousin replied "oh she's just sitting around writing books!" Both thought she could be doing something better.
Well ...I think Mary is doing pretty well for herself now!
If you'd like to check out her latest book click on the link below.
Also speaking at the event, was Ilyasah Shabazz, she is the daughter of Malcolm X.
She told some really cool stories about growing up as his daughter and I thought I would add one of her books to my collection to share with my students for Black History Month.
Here is the link to Ilyasah's book Malcom Little - The Boy Who Grew Up To Be Malcolm X
Ilyasah is REALLY tall! I felt so short next to her!!!!
FINALLY -- I have started a GoFundMe project and have teamed up with KIDS NEED TO READ . Please consider donating to this project -- I will be purchasing children's books to send to KIDS NEED TO READ for them to distribute to disadvantaged children all over the country.
Thanks for your support with this project!
Here is the link to the GoFundMe project
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