October 16, 2024 • 46 mins
Carol sits down with children’s book author Charnaie Gordon, a passionate advocate for children's literacy and diversity in books. This mom of two is a diversity, equity, and inclusion expert and the creator of the Here Wee Read blog and podcast. Her mission? To connect kids with books that reflect their diverse identities, and to foster a lifelong love for reading in children.
Charnaie talks with Carol about her own literacy journey, and how she made good on her vow (made before she had any children!) that she would raise kids who loved to read. She and Carol swap stories about fun reading traditions and routines that help encourage early literacy, and Charnaie shares some practical tips for parents who want to boost their kids' reading confidence. This is a must-listen episode for parents and caregivers who want to help kids fall in love with reading, find books that celebrate diversity, and learn how to make sure that children see themselves and others represented in the stories they read.
Follow us at @GroundControlParenting and on groundcontrolparenting.com
Charnaie talks with Carol about her own literacy journey, and how she made good on her vow (made before she had any children!) that she would raise kids who loved to read. She and Carol swap stories about fun reading traditions and routines that help encourage early literacy, and Charnaie shares some practical tips for parents who want to boost their kids' reading confidence. This is a must-listen episode for parents and caregivers who want to help kids fall in love with reading, find books that celebrate diversity, and learn how to make sure that children see themselves and others represented in the stories they read.
Follow us at @GroundControlParenting and on groundcontrolparenting.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, and welcome to Ground Control Parenting, a blog and
now a podcast creative of parents raising black and brown children.
I'm the creator and your host, Carol Sutton Lewis. In
this podcast series, I talk with some really interesting people
about the job and the joy of parenting. I am
so happy to have Sharnee Gordon join me for today's conversation.
Charney is an author, a diversity, equity and inclusion expert,
(00:27):
and a champion of literacy. Her books include a kid's
book about diversity, Lift Every Voice and Change, a soundbook,
a celebration of Black leaders and words and inspired generations,
Heroic Heart, Eta Extraordinaire, and its sequel, Eta Extraordinaire Goes
to the White House, which is just released in September
twenty twenty four. Up next Black Joy, Love Yourself, Love
(00:49):
Your Culture, and a Black history flashcard set called The
Young Historians Club, both coming out in early twenty twenty five.
She is also the creator of Here We Read, a
wonderful blog in which she shares lots of information about
diverse children's books through her here we Read blog, the
Here we Read podcast. In our social media, she strives
to empower parents to instill a love of reading and
(01:11):
curiosity in their children. She is a contributing writer to
the children's literacy site Brightly, and she's also the founder
of her children's literacy organization Fifty States fifty Books, where
her children collect and donate diverse children's books to deserving
kids in each of the fifty US states. Before diving
into DEI work and promoting children's literacy full time, Charnett
(01:34):
had a career in computer programming and information technology. Charney
and her husband Barrington have two children, Madison, her daughter
who's twelve, and Barrington, the third, who is eleven. Welcome
to Ground Control Parenting, Charney.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Oh my gosh, Carol, thank you so much for having me.
This is such a joy. I'm so thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Oh good, And I'm so happy to have you here.
I have been a huge fan of you and your
mission to connect children with books that they can fall
in love with and which they can see themselves represented
and included. And I love that your own children have
joined you in this mission. There is a lot to
talk about, so let's get started.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So all right, let's go.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I want to start by asking you about your background,
where you were born and where you grew up and
your family. Do you have siblings? I want to know
about how you were raised.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Sure, yeah, thank you so much for the question. So
I was born and raised in Connecticut, where I still
currently live. There were books in my house, but reading
was not a priority. And I do have siblings, so
I have four sisters from the same mother, and then
I have some half sisters as well on my father's side.
(02:48):
But yeah, in our home, reading was not a big priority.
But I was always always a bookworm since I was young.
I've always been just curious about learning and reading and literature,
and that started from a very very young age.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So even though your family wasn't hyper focused on reading
when you were reading, were they did they want you
to read out loud? Did they? Did? They encourage you
to read and help you find books?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So reading was definitely encouraged, But no, I was taken
to the library and when I when I was, I
was just so excited to be there. But it wasn't
you know, again, there wasn't like a high value placed
on reading in the home, not because not because my
(03:38):
parents didn't think it was important, but it just wasn't
something that my parents grew up doing and so, you know,
but it was something that I enjoyed doing. Not so
much by siblins either, but it was always just me.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
And so you were the lone bookworm in the family.
I was. I was so fast forward to you had chillildren.
Clearly you took your love of books into adulthood. When
your children were born. Did you have this core mission
to make sure they love books as much as you did?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Absolutely so. Even before I had children, I made a
promise to myself when I was in college. Actually I
knew I wanted to have children someday, but the promise
that I made to myself was I wanted my kids
to understand the importance of reading, but also have a
love and have an enjoyment for reading. And that was
(04:32):
the promise I made to myself even before I had kids.
It was like, I'm going to read with my children
every day, and that is what I vowed to do.
And that's exactly what I did. So when my children,
even before my children were born, I would read to them.
While I was pregnant with both of my kids, Oh yeah, yeah,
(04:54):
I would read, just read books out loud. First my
daughter was born.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
With these books you were reading for yourself just any book,
or were you reading children's books to them out loud?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Any book? Any book. But I also read children's books,
like once my daughter. I had my daughter first, so
once once I was like seven eight months, then I
started reading the children's books. But prior to that, I
would just be reading anything that's great.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And I guess it made it easier when you had
where you were pregnant with your son, because you could
read out loud to your daughter and and you to
wrote to.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Your son exactly exactly. And that's exactly what I did.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And so they came out. They were eager to hear words.
They were ready to read or were they. I mean,
when did you start talking with them about reading or
did you leave that to the schools.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I did not leave it to the schools. I know
that in order to raise children to be readers, we
have to be reading with our children at home, and
so I didn't want that. I didn't want to leave
that up to the schools. But I'm also a big
believer in working in conjunction with the schools. Right. I
(06:10):
don't just send my kids to school and say okay,
and I leave it up to the teachers to give
them that education. There has to be some learning happening
in the home, and so I did not leave it
up to the schools. It was something that I vowed
to do. Both of my kids were very early readers,
and it was one of those things that at first,
(06:31):
like you're like, I don't know if they're really reading
because I was reading the same books over and over again.
And then one day I just found a book that
we had never read before, and I gave it to
my daughter. She was two. I gave it to my
daughter and it was, I mean, it was a really
easy book, but I gave it to her and I
was like, oh, why don't you try to read this
(06:51):
to me? And she read the book word for word.
So it was at that point I was like, oh,
she like, she's actually reading. And it was like words
that we've we've read before in other books, words that
she's heard before, words that she's seen before. But it
was just so amazing to me that she read that
(07:14):
book cover to cover without me coaching her, helping her.
And that is when I really realized, Wow, my daughter
can actually read, right.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
And the power of exposing your children to books early
early right, Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Another thing that I did, which I think really helped,
was when both of my kids were really small, even
before they were walking, I labeled a lot of things
in our house with index cards, so desk, table, chair, toilet, window. Right,
it's something very simple that parents can do. Just label
(07:54):
things in your house and you'd be surprised, Like and
I and I and I would walk up to my kids, okay,
like go sit in your chair, point to the chair,
but also point to the index card that says chair.
And so they're constantly seeing chair, chair, window, window, and
so when they see it in a book, they're like,
they understand, they make the connection.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That's really important because reading the words is one thing,
and comprehending that the words mean something is that's the
biggest hurdle to get over. So let me ask you,
did your son read equally as early?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
He was a little bit later my son. My daughter
was two. My son was about two and a half,
probably closer to three.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah. I asked this because I was a very early reader.
My mother was a teacher and ultimately reading teacher, and
she taught me to read when I was really young,
so maybe I was three, and then my daughter, my
oldest picked it up. So she was three three and
a half, she learned to read. So when my son
came along, my first son came along, I fully expected
(08:56):
that he would get on the program, and you know,
and I had these little books that had very simple
words that I thought that really helped my daughter understand words.
So we go over the books and he says to me,
in three year old speak, I'm supposed to learn this
in school, So I think I'm going to wait until school,
so I'm gonna go play outside. Right, So I pushed
(09:20):
back a little, but clearly it's hard if someone is
not enthusiastic and eager, it's a little harder. You don't
want to make reading punishment. So sure how he got
to school, got the kindergarten and got it figured out.
But so this is just to say, parents, if your
children are not reading really early, even if you have
the index cards up, have no fear. It's still helping
them and they will learn to read. You have to
(09:41):
say only you have to stay on it. But they will.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
They will do it. And it's also one of those things,
right like you still want to keep it fun and
engaging for the child. It was never like even me
labeling the stuff in my house. It was never the
intent like me being so rigid and mean about it,
you know what I mean. It was just like a
(10:05):
fun thing. And so sometimes your kid will get it
and sometimes they won't, and that's okay, that's okay, but
you always want to make it fun.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Absolutely. When my first son was slower to take on
reading and then ultimately did, he wasn't as avid a
reader as my daughter, and I sought out books. There
are children's books that are designed for boys with like fun,
sort of energetic stories. So even if you have a
reluctant reader, and I'll say that with a small r
(10:36):
because he reads a lot now, but he was an
initially reluctant reader, there's ways to encourage them without making
them feel like there's something wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Absolutely, So once.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Your children learned to read, they mastered that skill early,
how did you continue their interest once they sort of
master the basics? I mean, did they does everybody? Did
everybody still read aloud? Did you read aloud together? What
did you do?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah? Yeah, so we did read aloud together. We had
this thing where I call breakfast over books, where it's
really just we'd be downstairs getting ready for school and
just go and go to the bookshelf and pick a
book of that you want to read for breakfast. So yeah,
and so it's just like a light, fun story that
(11:21):
we would read before they go off to school. This
is when they were a little bit younger. Now we
still do breakfast over books, but it's more like a
chapter or half a chapter because my kids are older now,
but breakfast over books is a tradition that we just
kind of kept going over the years. I don't yeah,
(11:41):
I don't do much of the nighttime story time as
much with them now because they're in those like tween
years and they're kind of feel like mom, they're a
little bit too old, a little bit too old for that,
but they still enjoy the breakfast over books. So I'll
take it where I can get it. Now.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
During breakfast over books, does one person? Does everyone listen
to one story? Does everyone have their individual book and read? Yeah,
we still just do one book, one story. That makes sense, yes,
so everybody can follow it together. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, And it's fun because it gives us something to
read over like the course of a couple of months,
right if it's a longer chapter book, and we might
sometimes we only have like fifteen twenty minutes before they
have to run out and catch the bus. But it
still allows us to have that bonding time that you know,
that reading time before they go off into their busy day.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Oh I love that. That's really great. So now that
they're older, they're in school with homework that requires reading.
Do you ever read along with what they are reading?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I do? Sometimes it depends on what it is that
they're doing. One of the interesting things my daughter is
going to middle school this year, so and what her
school has done. Before they left for summer break, the
middle school came into the elementary school and they gave
(13:08):
each of the sixth graders a brand new copy of
the book that they're going to be reading over the summer.
So they have this program called one Book, One School,
And so the idea is for the kids to read
the book over the summer and come back during the
first week of school. But they kind of use it
as an icebreaker because everybody's reading the same book over
(13:31):
the school year. This goes like this is for the principal,
the assistant principle, all of the administrators, even the janitors
are reading the same book. And so the idea is
when you come to school, you have something to talk about, like, hey,
oh did you read the book over the summer? What
did you think? Right, it's kind of like an icebreaker.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Oh that's great, and so do you read the book too?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I did. I did, and it's a fantastic book. And
they're they're going to have the author come in the fall.
So it's oh, that's great, it's a great program.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah. You know, my children are all out two or
out of graduate school. One is out of college. They're
all well passed my having any understanding of what they
have a homework or how to do the homework. But
when some of my children were in high school, I
started reading. I mean I was an English major. I
love books. I love to read, so I would read
(14:29):
along with whatever book they were assigned, not to help
them do their work, but really to have things to
talk about around the dinner table and to get a
sense of how they were comprehending and they get the
sense of their ideas. I really think it's important to
know how to read, but it's also really important to
know how to talk about what you're reading and analyze
(14:49):
it and think about what it means to you. And
the more time that you could spend doing that. And
so even though it sounds a little odd to have
to read like along with your high schooler, you have
to read. Is this their efforts to get you to
get involved in the homework. But it was fun, just
like reread like Shakespeare or whatever it was he was
doing they were doing. But I think if your child
(15:10):
is up for it, it can be fun to continue
that through high school.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah. So now I want to ask you about your pivot.
I love to talk about parenting pivots, and I talk
about a lot with how parents have to pivot in
parenting their children, but I also like to talk about
people pivots. So you made a pivot from computer science
expert to literary champion and DEI warrior. So, so how
did I want to know about how that came to be?
(15:37):
And first I want to ask about your interest in
writing children's books. Did that come out of your love
of books? That was sparked by having children and reading
a lot of children's books?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Right? Okay, let me answer the first one. First. My pivot.
So I had been at my previous company for fourteen
years and working as a senior computer developer.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Loved it.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
The only thing was even prior to COVID happening. I
would say this is probably around twenty eighteen. I started
to feel like I wanted to do something else with
my life, but I didn't know what that was. And
it was February twenty fifteen when I started doing the blog.
I did it as a side project, passion thing after work.
(16:29):
I was already a senior developer in my company. My
boss wasn't retiring anytime soon, the director wasn't retiring anytime soon,
so I kind of felt stuck. And plus, the computer
industry is a very male dominated industry, so I was
already having some issues and just personal things that I
(16:49):
was kind of dealing with when I was working there.
In twenty nineteen, I was approached by a children's book publisher,
Sleeping Bear Press, and they said, we would love for
you to write a children's book for us. And so
when I was first asked the question, I was like, well,
I am not a writer. But then when I thought
(17:11):
about it, I was like, you know what, I am
a writer, Like I've been writing this blog for four years,
so I'm like, yeah, I will do it. So twenty nineteen,
I signed my first book contract A couple of months
after that, in the same year, twenty nineteen, another publisher
comes knocking and says, we would love for you to
write a children's book for us, and I was like, oh, okay,
(17:33):
So I did the second one. So twenty nineteen I
had two book contracts under my belt twenty twenty COVID hits,
and it really gave me a lot of time to
think about what I wanted to do. And in thinking
about it, I decided I wanted to just be focused
on being a full time author. I said, you know,
(17:57):
I love my job, but I love this more. And
it was a big it was a big, huge pivot.
It was a big step. I was scared out of
my mind. My husband thought I was having a midlife crisis.
I quit my job and I just decided to go
(18:18):
for it, and I decided to bet on me, which
is something that I had never done in my life before,
you know. So there was a lot of doubts around it.
But then more book contracts just kind of kept coming
my way, and I wasn't even really trying. And I'm
not saying that to brag or to boast. I'm just
telling my story, right because I know a lot of
(18:41):
times when I tell this story, I feel bad in
a lot of ways, mostly because I know the struggle
of what it takes to get into children's book publishing,
and I know that people are writing manuscripts for many,
many years and they keep getting rejected. And I wasn't
doing any of that. And so that's why I think
(19:02):
in the beginning I had a lot of like that
imposture syndrome, like what am I doing? I'm not a writer,
like because of the way that I got in, you know,
And so it took a while for me to just
like accept the fact that, hey, well this is this
is my story, and this is how it happened for me. Right, So,
(19:23):
and your.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Love of books and children's literature and your interest in
spreading the word about how important books could be, particularly
to show children people in the book that look like them.
I mean, the whole philosophy of children's books was clear
that you understood and embraced. So it makes sense to me.
It wasn't as if they just plucked you out of
your cubicle or office in it and said you you write.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
A book, right, right, We're sure we are.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Crowning you the children's book no, no, no it didn't.
But it's not as if you just sort of, you know,
came out of blue. You had been devoting a lot
of time and energy. And I think someone who has
studied children's books, I mean, someone who studied the process,
seems like it would be a good person to try
to create it. And it also segues into the DEI
part of your work because your early books actually were
(20:13):
focused on kids and diversity. Is that right, and that's
how you began.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah, so absolutely. The first one, a kid's book
about diversity, was just exactly what it sounds sounds like, right,
It's a kid's book about diversity, and it's just defining
what diversity means. The Race Cards project was very interesting.
It was a self published book that was written by
(20:40):
a white woman and the title, the full title of
the book is race Cards, a children's book about white privilege.
And so I edited it. So it went from a
self published book and then it got picked up by
a bigger publisher and so they said, well, we want
to make sure we do this right, So they brought
me in to help edit the book, and so I
(21:01):
made some changes to the book. But yeah, it's essentially
a story about white car and a black car who
are racing. The black car comes up against some obstacles
during the race that are not fair, and so it's
a great I mean, it's a great, great story. And
(21:23):
the back matter of that book is absolutely outstanding, absolutely outstanding.
The discussion questions in the back oh good. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
No, So your interest in diversity in children's literature. Did
that come out of you looking for these books for
your kids or that you knew where to find them
and realize other people didn't both?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Actually, yeah, I when I started my blog, I knew
that I wanted to focus primarily on diverse children's books
because I was always finding these amazing books with my kids.
And I have to remember, back in twenty fifteen, Instagram
was not a place that you would go to look
(22:07):
for diverse book books for kids. There weren't a lot
of people talking about it. And so I think my
success came from being one of the first, if not
the first person on Instagram talking about diverse books for kids.
And so that was almost a decade ago. So February
(22:28):
twenty twenty five will be a decade that I've been
doing this work.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
We'll be right back after these messages welcome back to
the show. So you talked about sort of experiences at work.
Did that inform your focus on DEI or is your
focus on DII principally focused on DEI and children's books.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
DEI and children's books, right, So, once I decided to
focus on diversity, I did get my certification and then
I started writing writing for Brightley, So yeah, I wanted
that to be my focus. And then of course in
twenty twenty, like DEI was all the rage and now
so much. You know, you know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I do, I do. But I'm hopeful that the backlash
against DEI has not filtered down and impacted the children's
book industry because diversity in children's book is really important
for parents of color and their children of color. So
it doesn't matter what anybody else has to say. We
want our children to be able to see themselves in books,
(23:32):
and we buy books. And I'm hopeful that it hasn't
impacted the children's book world. Please tell me it hasn't impacted.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Well, it has. Unfortunately, you know, there are shakeups in publishing.
A lot of people that were hired specifically to deal
with diversity back in twenty twenty have now been let go.
Of course, there's always book banning. Well yeah, yeah, there
are authors that I know who have gotten their author
(24:05):
visits canceled because their books are banned. Like, there's just
a lot going on. So unfortunately it has trickled down
into the children's book industry.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So oh well, now as you say this, of course,
I know that people are trying schools are trying to
ban books and all, but I was just in my mind,
I'm thinking of books for the youngest readers and all
of the statistics that show that when a child sees
themselves on a page, it makes them more interested in
the story, it makes them sort of relate to the story.
(24:37):
So I'm hopeful that notwithstanding all these terrible things that
you're talking about, that parents are still able to find
books that they can share with their children to encourage
them in that way. But you are doing your bet.
You have put books coming out. You have so talk
to me about Eda extraordinaire, who is so adorable.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Oh my gosh, so here's ya. I am a white house,
I know. Oh my god, I'm so excited. So at
an extraordinaire interesting project. I actually had the idea for
a totally different book. I originally had written a manuscript
(25:21):
that I shared with my reading partner Rota Ahmed, and
I shared it with her because she has her own
publishing company called High Tree Publishing, and the name of
the book was called Eta the Shining Star. It was
basically a nonfiction picture book biography about the real life
at a Moten Barnett, who was the first black actress
(25:46):
in Hollywood. Ah yeah, and so it was a picture
book based on her life. So I pitched it to Roda.
She loved it, but she said, well, what if we
do something a little different? And I said, okay, well
what do you have in mind? And she's like, what
if we came up with our own little Etta and
we made her a modern day, like seven year old
(26:09):
girl who lives in a city and she loves like
fancy things. She loves to sing and perform. And it
was such a brilliant idea. She already had the connection
with HarperCollins with her other book May Among the Stars,
(26:31):
and so she said, well, would you be willing to
take me on as a writing partner and we can
create our own Eda. So I said yes, and during
COVID this was twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. We
wrote seven different manuscripts all about Eta.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah, all very high level rough drafts, but seven different books.
And we finished the first one. We got to a
point where we said, okay, let's try to let's try
to pitch this. So since she had the connection with
Harper Collins, we pitched it to Harper Collins first. They
(27:11):
loved it immediately and said yes, And so Eda Extraordinaire
was born. So that's the first book in the series.
And Eda Extraordinaire is a little girl who likes to
do ordinary things in extraordinary ways. So yeah, and that
that's really it. So and then the second book, At
Extraordinaire Goes to the White House, publishes September tenth of
(27:34):
twenty twenty four. So I'm super excited about that.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
And why did Eda go to the White House?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Great question? So Eda Mote and Barnett, the real life
Eda Mote and Barnet. She actually was the first black
woman to sing in the White House. Oh, and so
we base that story loosely, very loosely off off of
that real life story.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
So now I want to ask about the other books
that are coming up well, the one book that has
the best title, Black Joy, Love Yourself, Love your Culture. Yes,
tell me what that is, and it sounds amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, so it is. I was actually approached by a
publisher and they said, we want to have a picture
book about Black Love Day. Do you know what Black
Love Day is?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
I do not. Isn't it every day? No? In my world,
it's every day, No Black Love Day, I know.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I didn't know this either until I was asked. Black
Love Day is. Basically it's every year and I think
it was established in nineteen ninety three. Every year it's
the day before Valentine's Day, so it's February thirteenth every year,
and it's a day for Black people to just love themselves,
(29:00):
love their culture. And I was like, who knew? I
didn't even know Black Love Day exists. So the publisher
approached me and said, we would like to have a
story about Black Love Day. So I just kind of
came up with this idea. It's about a little boy.
His name is Jaden, and I named him Jaden because
(29:22):
that's my nephew's name. But Jaden he lives in the
in the Inner City, and every morning, on his way
to school, he walks by this abandoned graffiti wall and
he loves the wall, but he wants to change the wall.
He wants to make it beautiful again. And so he
knows that Black Love Day is coming up, so he
(29:45):
takes the idea to his family and he says, hey,
can we can we redo this graffiti wall as a
community service project for Black Love Day? So he tells
us his parents about the idea. They love it. They
get the community involved, and they the community comes together
(30:06):
to make this wall beautiful again. And yeah, and so
throughout the story, Jaden is remembering all of the different
ways that he gives love and receives love every day.
So love him from his parents, his grandparents, his teachers,
his friends, his community. And so it's a beautiful story
(30:31):
about coming together as a community. It's about love, loving yourself,
loving your culture.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Oh it sounds great and it definitely will spread the
word about Black Love Day, which I have never heard about. Right, So, finally,
you know, when I read about you, you did Flashcards
some years ago. I recall seeing and now you have
a new the Young Historians Club, which is Flashcards. Why
don't you tell me about how you came up with
(31:03):
this and what kind of profiles are in the Young
Historians Club.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, so this was a project that I've been wanting
to do flash cards for a number of years. So
I approached an illustrator that I met on Instagram and
when I mentioned the flash cards, she was super excited
and interested. So for about two years, her and I
did this project just on our own. She would do
(31:30):
all of the illustrations and we put them up for
sale on her Etsy page, and every time we put
like a new order up. We did like fifties fifty
cards sets at a time because that was all we
could afford, and they would sell out within like twenty
four hours. And that was every time that we did this. Finally,
Uncommon Goods came knocking on our door. They took an interest.
(31:53):
They ordered one hundred sets of flash cards, put them
up on their website. They sold out as well. So
that's when I had the idea to take this to
my agent and I said, I think we have something here.
Maybe we can make this like a thing and we
can pitch it to a publisher. So my agent pitched
(32:14):
it to a publisher. They loved it immediately, and yeah,
and that's how Young Historians Club was essentially born. What
is the Young Historians Club. We came up with that
name because the first set that we have is a
Black History flash card set, so it's thirty one cards
(32:35):
featuring leaders from the present and the past. But the
publisher wanted two sets of flash cards, so they wanted
the Black History set and they wanted an additional one.
So we said okay, and that's when we came up
with the name Young Historian, Like, why don't we make
this a club because we could have multiple sets. We
(32:55):
could have a Black History set, we could have a
women in stem set, have a Latin X set, right
Asian American pacificate islander. Like the ideas that we have
are just so immense. And so the publisher brought the
first two sets and that's essentially what it is, and
they're going to be first sale in Barnes and Noble
(33:18):
stores nationwide starting in January twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Wow. That's great. That is really great. It's an element
that has been missing from our children's education, and I'm
really glad that everybody will have the opportunity to do
fun flash card games at home. I used to love
flash cards with my kids when I was little gains
that would have flash cards in them. Oh the best.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah, and so it's great. So it's not only going
to be a set of flash cards, but there's an
illustration of the person on the front. You flip the
card over. On the back, there's information about who the
person is at the bottom. We've included children's book recommendations
if you want to do further reading about the person,
and then the flash cards will also come with the
(34:04):
little booklet, and then the booklet will have additional information
as well as different ways that you can use these
splash cards either with children at home or in the schools.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Oh wow, that is great, And that actually is a
great segue because before we close, I want to ask
you about tips that you might have for parents. I mean,
you have been in the children's book game from when
your children were not quite yet born. So for parents
that are interested in helping their children, maybe helping spark
(34:39):
an interest in reading for their children and the confidence
building that comes along with culture, what do you suggest
they do at home? And then is there anything that
they can do in conjunction with the teachers in school?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Absolutely, so at home. Some of the things I've already
talked about right, reading every day if you can, right,
even if it's only like five to twenty minutes, ideally
you would want to be reading with your children at
least twenty to thirty minutes per day, or if you're
not reading with them, make sure that they are reading
(35:13):
independently for at least thirty minutes a day if you
can and when you can. But also, you know, like
I said earlier, make reading fun. Don't make it a chore,
because then your kids definitely won't want to do it.
Make sure your kids are involved in the books that
they choose to read. I think that's a big one
(35:35):
because a lot of times, you know, especially in school,
they're assigned specific books that they may have to read
at school. But when they're reading for fun or you know,
reading for enjoyment, maybe they just want to just kick
back and relax and read something that they want to read.
So obviously you want to make sure that it's still appropriate.
So you can use websites like common Sense Media. They
(35:58):
have the ratings for the books, so you can even
do your own research. You can get the title from
your child, go on to common Sense Media. Make sure
it's kind of like vetted in a way, you.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Know, as my listeners would know. I'm a huge fan
of Common Sense Media. We've even had the head of
Common Sense Media, Jim Steyer, on to talk about the
importance of parents focusing on what the content that their
children are absorbing. And yes they have reviews, they have
it just it's helpful even if the review, and mean
the review gives you a sense of what your child's
(36:30):
going to encounter in the book, just so you have
a sense of whether it's appropriate. As you said, you've
talked about home stuff. What about school. If you're let's say,
your child is not loving reading and is complaining about
the reading they have to do in school, does it
make sense to talk with a teacher about it. Oh?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Absolutely, And the sooner you can do that, the better, right,
because the last thing you want is for your child
to be falling behind or you know, just not enjoying
what they're doing, what they're reading. Absolutely, you have to
stay involved with the teachers, make sure that you understand
(37:12):
what the assignment is, what's required of your child. You know,
also like parents just get involved. And I know sometimes
it's like parents have to work or if they want
to have a life too or have other things to do.
But taking my like that fifteen twenty minutes a day,
just to check in with your child, especially if they're
(37:34):
having issues and struggling in an area, it's just going
to make so much. It's going to make it easier
for you and them and the teacher.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
And I would just add that as if your child
is struggling with reading, try not to be judgmental about it.
If they're reading anything comic books. Your kids can read
comic I mean they still exist, They're.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Still they do. Yeahah, comic books, graphic novels, right, those
are those?
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Are you? Yeah? So, I mean there might be a
sense it might be temptation to say, oh, that's not
serious reading. It's all reading is good reading, all reading.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Audiobooks count to those are huge. That's another thing that
we do as a family if we are taking a
long trip. Before we go on the trip, we go
to the library, check out a couple of audiobooks that
are you know, the kids are interested in, or that
I'm interested in, and we pop an audiobook and we
(38:28):
listen to it on the drive.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So, you know, that's a really good suggestion, particularly for
parents who don't have a lot of time to read
to their children. If all you were together in the
car is often you may be if you have an
audiobook and choosing one that everybody has an interest in,
or those longer chapter books where it's a story that's
unfolding every time you get in the car, that seems
like that would be a good opportunity. You know, it's
(38:50):
so important to spark this interest early before children get
really frustrated because reading unlock so many doors, so many Yeah,
and that's so much.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Those audio books are so well done now I am
talking about like world class narrators who are reading these
stories and then you've got the music going. It feels
like you are in a like you're listening to a movie.
It's not even a book. A lot of times, like
they're just so engaging, and so it's like sometimes like
(39:25):
we'll be listening and then we stop or something, and
then you just are like, no, wait, let's hear what's
gonna happen first, Like there's just we're all just so
into it.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Good to know it's not just some dry voice reading
the words.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
They have stepped up these audio books. I mean, I
am telling you it is.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
It is a production well I am sure there'll be
a point at which we will get to hear Eda
Extraordinaire and Ed Extraordinaire in her seven other adventures on audiobooks,
So I look forward to that. Yeah, So I'm going
to I'm going to to wrap it up here, But
first I want to say thank you Jane so much.
I'm really happy that you're here with us, and I'm
(40:05):
sure that parents listening everywhere are are happy to hear
what you're doing and are eager to get their hands
on some of your books. So there's one more thing
I want to do before you go, and that is
ask you to play the GCP Lightning Round. So I
have four quick questions for you. Okay, First one is
your favorite poem or saying.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Oh favorite poem are saying no grit, no guts now
glory Ah.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
That's a great one. Words to live by. Okay. The
second question, which is going to be easy, is your
favorite two children's books. Now, let me say it would
be the easiest if you just said your own but
besides your own books, let's assume those are your favorites.
But the favorite two children's books either that you grew
up with or that you loved reading with your kids,
(40:52):
or that you love when you've found them now, Yes,
I always.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Say Corduroy by Don Freeman. Love Corduroy, favorite of all time,
and probably The Snowy Day.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Those are two great books. Okay, so these are two
parenting questions for you. The final two give me a
mom moment that you'd love to have the ability to redo,
like something that you thinking about it, you wished that
you had done it a little differently.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Asking for help. When I my kids were young, I
had them fifteen months apart, and so my daughter was
six months and then here comes my son, and I
didn't always ask for help, so I tried to be
(41:47):
super mom.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
That is a very very valuable mom moment. And all
you young moms out there to ked because there's no
you have to ask for help. You absolutely do. And
so give me the side of that. Give me a
moment where you knew you nailed it as a mom,
like you just knocked it out the park.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Reading with my kids from day one, absolutely, I mean
that has paid off. I mean my kids are both
like amazing students in school in all subjects, and I
think just instilling that love of reading and love of
learning from very early on really helped.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Such great answers. Normally, when I do the lightning round,
then I say goodbye, boy, I want to hear about
fifty books for fifty states. Speaking of your children. Oh, yes,
tell me about this nonprofit that you all create together
that they're big participants in.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Yeah. So, fifty States fifty Books started out as just
an idea. I was in the shower one day and
the name just kind of came to me, fifty States
fifty Books, and I was like, oh, that's it. So
I get out of the shower and I go google
it to see if you know the domain name was
taken or whatever. It wasn't. So I bought the domain
(43:04):
name and I had no idea what I was going
to do, but I because I have the tech background.
I literally it took me like a day to create
the website fifty States fifty Books dot org, and I said, okay,
I'm launching this this thing. And my husband was like,
what are you talking about? And I said, I had
this idea that I want to donate fifty diverse children's
(43:25):
books to each of the fifty US states. And so
that's a total of twenty five hundred books per year.
I said, I don't know how we're going to do it,
but we're going to do it. The next day, I
created the Instagram page and I started talking about it
on my Instagram page. Initially here we read, I explained
it and I said, if you want to follow along
(43:47):
with our mission, head over to fifty States, fifty books
our Instagram page. And that day, like I got like
the first I don't know, five hundred people just followed
and they still didn't even know what it was about.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
Help.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
And so then I just started making things plea like
can you please send us books so that we can donate.
People just started sending us books in the mail, like literally,
and so that's how we started. And so yeah, every
year we collect and donate fifty books, fifty children's books
(44:24):
for kids ages birth to seventeen, and we donate fifty
books to each of the fifty US states. And we
go through all of the submissions that we receive and
we pick one person from each of the from each
of the states, and we decide, Okay, this person or
this organization we're going to send the books to.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Wow, So what do you what do your kids do
in this how did they help.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Yes, so, the kids they help with packing and shipping,
and they do help. They do help with some of
the Instagram stuff obviously, and then the website stuff. Every
year in the summer, I give my kids a break though,
so we are on break right now because it's summer break.
But we start up again in the fall. And this
(45:11):
year we do want to have a scholarship where we
give away one thousand dollars to or I don't know
if it's going to be a thousand or five hundred
to a college student who's going to measure an education
or teaching.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Oh oh man, that is great. That is great. Teaching
your children smart philanthropy from an early age, which is
really great. Yes. So, and with that, I will say
thank you again so much for being with us today. Really,
it's been great to hear this. It's been great to
see you, and I look forward to all these new
books coming out.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Thank you so much, Carol. I really appreciate you for
having me so I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
I hope everyone listening enjoyed this conversation that you'll come
back for more. Please subscribe, rate and review where you
find your podcasts, and tell your friends for more parenting
info and advice, please check out the Ground Control Parenting
website at wwwgroundcontrol parenting dot com. You can also find
us on Facebook and Instagram at ground Control Parenting and
on LinkedIn under Carol Sutton Lewis. Until the next time,
(46:17):
take care and thanks for listening.
Hello, and welcome to Ground Control Parenting, a blog and
now a podcast creative of parents raising black and brown children.
I'm the creator and your host, Carol Sutton Lewis. In
this podcast series, I talk with some really interesting people
about the job and the joy of parenting. I am
so happy to have Sharnee Gordon join me for today's conversation.
Charney is an author, a diversity, equity and inclusion expert,
(00:27):
and a champion of literacy. Her books include a kid's
book about diversity, Lift Every Voice and Change, a soundbook,
a celebration of Black leaders and words and inspired generations,
Heroic Heart, Eta Extraordinaire, and its sequel, Eta Extraordinaire Goes
to the White House, which is just released in September
twenty twenty four. Up next Black Joy, Love Yourself, Love
(00:49):
Your Culture, and a Black history flashcard set called The
Young Historians Club, both coming out in early twenty twenty five.
She is also the creator of Here We Read, a
wonderful blog in which she shares lots of information about
diverse children's books through her here we Read blog, the
Here we Read podcast. In our social media, she strives
to empower parents to instill a love of reading and
(01:11):
curiosity in their children. She is a contributing writer to
the children's literacy site Brightly, and she's also the founder
of her children's literacy organization Fifty States fifty Books, where
her children collect and donate diverse children's books to deserving
kids in each of the fifty US states. Before diving
into DEI work and promoting children's literacy full time, Charnett
(01:34):
had a career in computer programming and information technology. Charney
and her husband Barrington have two children, Madison, her daughter
who's twelve, and Barrington, the third, who is eleven. Welcome
to Ground Control Parenting, Charney.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Oh my gosh, Carol, thank you so much for having me.
This is such a joy. I'm so thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Oh good, And I'm so happy to have you here.
I have been a huge fan of you and your
mission to connect children with books that they can fall
in love with and which they can see themselves represented
and included. And I love that your own children have
joined you in this mission. There is a lot to
talk about, so let's get started.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So all right, let's go.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I want to start by asking you about your background,
where you were born and where you grew up and
your family. Do you have siblings? I want to know
about how you were raised.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Sure, yeah, thank you so much for the question. So
I was born and raised in Connecticut, where I still
currently live. There were books in my house, but reading
was not a priority. And I do have siblings, so
I have four sisters from the same mother, and then
I have some half sisters as well on my father's side.
(02:48):
But yeah, in our home, reading was not a big priority.
But I was always always a bookworm since I was young.
I've always been just curious about learning and reading and literature,
and that started from a very very young age.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So even though your family wasn't hyper focused on reading
when you were reading, were they did they want you
to read out loud? Did they? Did? They encourage you
to read and help you find books?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So reading was definitely encouraged, But no, I was taken
to the library and when I when I was, I
was just so excited to be there. But it wasn't
you know, again, there wasn't like a high value placed
on reading in the home, not because not because my
(03:38):
parents didn't think it was important, but it just wasn't
something that my parents grew up doing and so, you know,
but it was something that I enjoyed doing. Not so
much by siblins either, but it was always just me.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
And so you were the lone bookworm in the family.
I was. I was so fast forward to you had chillildren.
Clearly you took your love of books into adulthood. When
your children were born. Did you have this core mission
to make sure they love books as much as you did?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Absolutely so. Even before I had children, I made a
promise to myself when I was in college. Actually I
knew I wanted to have children someday, but the promise
that I made to myself was I wanted my kids
to understand the importance of reading, but also have a
love and have an enjoyment for reading. And that was
(04:32):
the promise I made to myself even before I had kids.
It was like, I'm going to read with my children
every day, and that is what I vowed to do.
And that's exactly what I did. So when my children,
even before my children were born, I would read to them.
While I was pregnant with both of my kids, Oh yeah, yeah,
(04:54):
I would read, just read books out loud. First my
daughter was born.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
With these books you were reading for yourself just any book,
or were you reading children's books to them out loud?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Any book? Any book. But I also read children's books,
like once my daughter. I had my daughter first, so
once once I was like seven eight months, then I
started reading the children's books. But prior to that, I
would just be reading anything that's great.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And I guess it made it easier when you had
where you were pregnant with your son, because you could
read out loud to your daughter and and you to
wrote to.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Your son exactly exactly. And that's exactly what I did.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And so they came out. They were eager to hear words.
They were ready to read or were they. I mean,
when did you start talking with them about reading or
did you leave that to the schools.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I did not leave it to the schools. I know
that in order to raise children to be readers, we
have to be reading with our children at home, and
so I didn't want that. I didn't want to leave
that up to the schools. But I'm also a big
believer in working in conjunction with the schools. Right. I
(06:10):
don't just send my kids to school and say okay,
and I leave it up to the teachers to give
them that education. There has to be some learning happening
in the home, and so I did not leave it
up to the schools. It was something that I vowed
to do. Both of my kids were very early readers,
and it was one of those things that at first,
(06:31):
like you're like, I don't know if they're really reading
because I was reading the same books over and over again.
And then one day I just found a book that
we had never read before, and I gave it to
my daughter. She was two. I gave it to my
daughter and it was, I mean, it was a really
easy book, but I gave it to her and I
was like, oh, why don't you try to read this
(06:51):
to me? And she read the book word for word.
So it was at that point I was like, oh,
she like, she's actually reading. And it was like words
that we've we've read before in other books, words that
she's heard before, words that she's seen before. But it
was just so amazing to me that she read that
(07:14):
book cover to cover without me coaching her, helping her.
And that is when I really realized, Wow, my daughter
can actually read, right.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
And the power of exposing your children to books early
early right, Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Another thing that I did, which I think really helped,
was when both of my kids were really small, even
before they were walking, I labeled a lot of things
in our house with index cards, so desk, table, chair, toilet, window. Right,
it's something very simple that parents can do. Just label
(07:54):
things in your house and you'd be surprised, Like and
I and I and I would walk up to my kids, okay,
like go sit in your chair, point to the chair,
but also point to the index card that says chair.
And so they're constantly seeing chair, chair, window, window, and
so when they see it in a book, they're like,
they understand, they make the connection.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That's really important because reading the words is one thing,
and comprehending that the words mean something is that's the
biggest hurdle to get over. So let me ask you,
did your son read equally as early?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
He was a little bit later my son. My daughter
was two. My son was about two and a half,
probably closer to three.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah. I asked this because I was a very early reader.
My mother was a teacher and ultimately reading teacher, and
she taught me to read when I was really young,
so maybe I was three, and then my daughter, my
oldest picked it up. So she was three three and
a half, she learned to read. So when my son
came along, my first son came along, I fully expected
(08:56):
that he would get on the program, and you know,
and I had these little books that had very simple
words that I thought that really helped my daughter understand words.
So we go over the books and he says to me,
in three year old speak, I'm supposed to learn this
in school, So I think I'm going to wait until school,
so I'm gonna go play outside. Right, So I pushed
(09:20):
back a little, but clearly it's hard if someone is
not enthusiastic and eager, it's a little harder. You don't
want to make reading punishment. So sure how he got
to school, got the kindergarten and got it figured out.
But so this is just to say, parents, if your
children are not reading really early, even if you have
the index cards up, have no fear. It's still helping
them and they will learn to read. You have to
(09:41):
say only you have to stay on it. But they will.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
They will do it. And it's also one of those things,
right like you still want to keep it fun and
engaging for the child. It was never like even me
labeling the stuff in my house. It was never the
intent like me being so rigid and mean about it,
you know what I mean. It was just like a
(10:05):
fun thing. And so sometimes your kid will get it
and sometimes they won't, and that's okay, that's okay, but
you always want to make it fun.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Absolutely. When my first son was slower to take on
reading and then ultimately did, he wasn't as avid a
reader as my daughter, and I sought out books. There
are children's books that are designed for boys with like fun,
sort of energetic stories. So even if you have a
reluctant reader, and I'll say that with a small r
(10:36):
because he reads a lot now, but he was an
initially reluctant reader, there's ways to encourage them without making
them feel like there's something wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Absolutely, So once.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Your children learned to read, they mastered that skill early,
how did you continue their interest once they sort of
master the basics? I mean, did they does everybody? Did
everybody still read aloud? Did you read aloud together? What
did you do?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah? Yeah, so we did read aloud together. We had
this thing where I call breakfast over books, where it's
really just we'd be downstairs getting ready for school and
just go and go to the bookshelf and pick a
book of that you want to read for breakfast. So yeah,
and so it's just like a light, fun story that
(11:21):
we would read before they go off to school. This
is when they were a little bit younger. Now we
still do breakfast over books, but it's more like a
chapter or half a chapter because my kids are older now,
but breakfast over books is a tradition that we just
kind of kept going over the years. I don't yeah,
(11:41):
I don't do much of the nighttime story time as
much with them now because they're in those like tween
years and they're kind of feel like mom, they're a
little bit too old, a little bit too old for that,
but they still enjoy the breakfast over books. So I'll
take it where I can get it. Now.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
During breakfast over books, does one person? Does everyone listen
to one story? Does everyone have their individual book and read? Yeah,
we still just do one book, one story. That makes sense, yes,
so everybody can follow it together. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, And it's fun because it gives us something to
read over like the course of a couple of months,
right if it's a longer chapter book, and we might
sometimes we only have like fifteen twenty minutes before they
have to run out and catch the bus. But it
still allows us to have that bonding time that you know,
that reading time before they go off into their busy day.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Oh I love that. That's really great. So now that
they're older, they're in school with homework that requires reading.
Do you ever read along with what they are reading?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I do? Sometimes it depends on what it is that
they're doing. One of the interesting things my daughter is
going to middle school this year, so and what her
school has done. Before they left for summer break, the
middle school came into the elementary school and they gave
(13:08):
each of the sixth graders a brand new copy of
the book that they're going to be reading over the summer.
So they have this program called one Book, One School,
And so the idea is for the kids to read
the book over the summer and come back during the
first week of school. But they kind of use it
as an icebreaker because everybody's reading the same book over
(13:31):
the school year. This goes like this is for the principal,
the assistant principle, all of the administrators, even the janitors
are reading the same book. And so the idea is
when you come to school, you have something to talk about, like, hey,
oh did you read the book over the summer? What
did you think? Right, it's kind of like an icebreaker.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Oh that's great, and so do you read the book too?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I did. I did, and it's a fantastic book. And
they're they're going to have the author come in the fall.
So it's oh, that's great, it's a great program.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah. You know, my children are all out two or
out of graduate school. One is out of college. They're
all well passed my having any understanding of what they
have a homework or how to do the homework. But
when some of my children were in high school, I
started reading. I mean I was an English major. I
love books. I love to read, so I would read
(14:29):
along with whatever book they were assigned, not to help
them do their work, but really to have things to
talk about around the dinner table and to get a
sense of how they were comprehending and they get the
sense of their ideas. I really think it's important to
know how to read, but it's also really important to
know how to talk about what you're reading and analyze
(14:49):
it and think about what it means to you. And
the more time that you could spend doing that. And
so even though it sounds a little odd to have
to read like along with your high schooler, you have
to read. Is this their efforts to get you to
get involved in the homework. But it was fun, just
like reread like Shakespeare or whatever it was he was
doing they were doing. But I think if your child
(15:10):
is up for it, it can be fun to continue
that through high school.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah. So now I want to ask you about your pivot.
I love to talk about parenting pivots, and I talk
about a lot with how parents have to pivot in
parenting their children, but I also like to talk about
people pivots. So you made a pivot from computer science
expert to literary champion and DEI warrior. So, so how
did I want to know about how that came to be?
(15:37):
And first I want to ask about your interest in
writing children's books. Did that come out of your love
of books? That was sparked by having children and reading
a lot of children's books?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Right? Okay, let me answer the first one. First. My pivot.
So I had been at my previous company for fourteen
years and working as a senior computer developer.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Loved it.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
The only thing was even prior to COVID happening. I
would say this is probably around twenty eighteen. I started
to feel like I wanted to do something else with
my life, but I didn't know what that was. And
it was February twenty fifteen when I started doing the blog.
I did it as a side project, passion thing after work.
(16:29):
I was already a senior developer in my company. My
boss wasn't retiring anytime soon, the director wasn't retiring anytime soon,
so I kind of felt stuck. And plus, the computer
industry is a very male dominated industry, so I was
already having some issues and just personal things that I
(16:49):
was kind of dealing with when I was working there.
In twenty nineteen, I was approached by a children's book publisher,
Sleeping Bear Press, and they said, we would love for
you to write a children's book for us. And so
when I was first asked the question, I was like, well,
I am not a writer. But then when I thought
(17:11):
about it, I was like, you know what, I am
a writer, Like I've been writing this blog for four years,
so I'm like, yeah, I will do it. So twenty nineteen,
I signed my first book contract A couple of months
after that, in the same year, twenty nineteen, another publisher
comes knocking and says, we would love for you to
write a children's book for us, and I was like, oh, okay,
(17:33):
So I did the second one. So twenty nineteen I
had two book contracts under my belt twenty twenty COVID hits,
and it really gave me a lot of time to
think about what I wanted to do. And in thinking
about it, I decided I wanted to just be focused
on being a full time author. I said, you know,
(17:57):
I love my job, but I love this more. And
it was a big it was a big, huge pivot.
It was a big step. I was scared out of
my mind. My husband thought I was having a midlife crisis.
I quit my job and I just decided to go
(18:18):
for it, and I decided to bet on me, which
is something that I had never done in my life before,
you know. So there was a lot of doubts around it.
But then more book contracts just kind of kept coming
my way, and I wasn't even really trying. And I'm
not saying that to brag or to boast. I'm just
telling my story, right because I know a lot of
(18:41):
times when I tell this story, I feel bad in
a lot of ways, mostly because I know the struggle
of what it takes to get into children's book publishing,
and I know that people are writing manuscripts for many,
many years and they keep getting rejected. And I wasn't
doing any of that. And so that's why I think
(19:02):
in the beginning I had a lot of like that
imposture syndrome, like what am I doing? I'm not a writer,
like because of the way that I got in, you know,
And so it took a while for me to just
like accept the fact that, hey, well this is this
is my story, and this is how it happened for me. Right, So,
(19:23):
and your.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Love of books and children's literature and your interest in
spreading the word about how important books could be, particularly
to show children people in the book that look like them.
I mean, the whole philosophy of children's books was clear
that you understood and embraced. So it makes sense to me.
It wasn't as if they just plucked you out of
your cubicle or office in it and said you you write.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
A book, right, right, We're sure we are.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Crowning you the children's book no, no, no it didn't.
But it's not as if you just sort of, you know,
came out of blue. You had been devoting a lot
of time and energy. And I think someone who has
studied children's books, I mean, someone who studied the process,
seems like it would be a good person to try
to create it. And it also segues into the DEI
part of your work because your early books actually were
(20:13):
focused on kids and diversity. Is that right, and that's
how you began.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah, so absolutely. The first one, a kid's book
about diversity, was just exactly what it sounds sounds like, right,
It's a kid's book about diversity, and it's just defining
what diversity means. The Race Cards project was very interesting.
It was a self published book that was written by
(20:40):
a white woman and the title, the full title of
the book is race Cards, a children's book about white privilege.
And so I edited it. So it went from a
self published book and then it got picked up by
a bigger publisher and so they said, well, we want
to make sure we do this right, So they brought
me in to help edit the book, and so I
(21:01):
made some changes to the book. But yeah, it's essentially
a story about white car and a black car who
are racing. The black car comes up against some obstacles
during the race that are not fair, and so it's
a great I mean, it's a great, great story. And
(21:23):
the back matter of that book is absolutely outstanding, absolutely outstanding.
The discussion questions in the back oh good. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
No, So your interest in diversity in children's literature. Did
that come out of you looking for these books for
your kids or that you knew where to find them
and realize other people didn't both?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Actually, yeah, I when I started my blog, I knew
that I wanted to focus primarily on diverse children's books
because I was always finding these amazing books with my kids.
And I have to remember, back in twenty fifteen, Instagram
was not a place that you would go to look
(22:07):
for diverse book books for kids. There weren't a lot
of people talking about it. And so I think my
success came from being one of the first, if not
the first person on Instagram talking about diverse books for kids.
And so that was almost a decade ago. So February
(22:28):
twenty twenty five will be a decade that I've been
doing this work.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
We'll be right back after these messages welcome back to
the show. So you talked about sort of experiences at work.
Did that inform your focus on DEI or is your
focus on DII principally focused on DEI and children's books.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
DEI and children's books, right, So, once I decided to
focus on diversity, I did get my certification and then
I started writing writing for Brightley, So yeah, I wanted
that to be my focus. And then of course in
twenty twenty, like DEI was all the rage and now
so much. You know, you know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I do, I do. But I'm hopeful that the backlash
against DEI has not filtered down and impacted the children's
book industry because diversity in children's book is really important
for parents of color and their children of color. So
it doesn't matter what anybody else has to say. We
want our children to be able to see themselves in books,
(23:32):
and we buy books. And I'm hopeful that it hasn't
impacted the children's book world. Please tell me it hasn't impacted.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Well, it has. Unfortunately, you know, there are shakeups in publishing.
A lot of people that were hired specifically to deal
with diversity back in twenty twenty have now been let go.
Of course, there's always book banning. Well yeah, yeah, there
are authors that I know who have gotten their author
(24:05):
visits canceled because their books are banned. Like, there's just
a lot going on. So unfortunately it has trickled down
into the children's book industry.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So oh well, now as you say this, of course,
I know that people are trying schools are trying to
ban books and all, but I was just in my mind,
I'm thinking of books for the youngest readers and all
of the statistics that show that when a child sees
themselves on a page, it makes them more interested in
the story, it makes them sort of relate to the story.
(24:37):
So I'm hopeful that notwithstanding all these terrible things that
you're talking about, that parents are still able to find
books that they can share with their children to encourage
them in that way. But you are doing your bet.
You have put books coming out. You have so talk
to me about Eda extraordinaire, who is so adorable.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Oh my gosh, so here's ya. I am a white house,
I know. Oh my god, I'm so excited. So at
an extraordinaire interesting project. I actually had the idea for
a totally different book. I originally had written a manuscript
(25:21):
that I shared with my reading partner Rota Ahmed, and
I shared it with her because she has her own
publishing company called High Tree Publishing, and the name of
the book was called Eta the Shining Star. It was
basically a nonfiction picture book biography about the real life
at a Moten Barnett, who was the first black actress
(25:46):
in Hollywood. Ah yeah, and so it was a picture
book based on her life. So I pitched it to Roda.
She loved it, but she said, well, what if we
do something a little different? And I said, okay, well
what do you have in mind? And she's like, what
if we came up with our own little Etta and
we made her a modern day, like seven year old
(26:09):
girl who lives in a city and she loves like
fancy things. She loves to sing and perform. And it
was such a brilliant idea. She already had the connection
with HarperCollins with her other book May Among the Stars,
(26:31):
and so she said, well, would you be willing to
take me on as a writing partner and we can
create our own Eda. So I said yes, and during
COVID this was twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. We
wrote seven different manuscripts all about Eta.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah, all very high level rough drafts, but seven different books.
And we finished the first one. We got to a
point where we said, okay, let's try to let's try
to pitch this. So since she had the connection with
Harper Collins, we pitched it to Harper Collins first. They
(27:11):
loved it immediately and said yes, And so Eda Extraordinaire
was born. So that's the first book in the series.
And Eda Extraordinaire is a little girl who likes to
do ordinary things in extraordinary ways. So yeah, and that
that's really it. So and then the second book, At
Extraordinaire Goes to the White House, publishes September tenth of
(27:34):
twenty twenty four. So I'm super excited about that.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
And why did Eda go to the White House?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Great question? So Eda Mote and Barnett, the real life
Eda Mote and Barnet. She actually was the first black
woman to sing in the White House. Oh, and so
we base that story loosely, very loosely off off of
that real life story.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
So now I want to ask about the other books
that are coming up well, the one book that has
the best title, Black Joy, Love Yourself, Love your Culture. Yes,
tell me what that is, and it sounds amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, so it is. I was actually approached by a
publisher and they said, we want to have a picture
book about Black Love Day. Do you know what Black
Love Day is?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
I do not. Isn't it every day? No? In my world,
it's every day, No Black Love Day, I know.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I didn't know this either until I was asked. Black
Love Day is. Basically it's every year and I think
it was established in nineteen ninety three. Every year it's
the day before Valentine's Day, so it's February thirteenth every year,
and it's a day for Black people to just love themselves,
(29:00):
love their culture. And I was like, who knew? I
didn't even know Black Love Day exists. So the publisher
approached me and said, we would like to have a
story about Black Love Day. So I just kind of
came up with this idea. It's about a little boy.
His name is Jaden, and I named him Jaden because
(29:22):
that's my nephew's name. But Jaden he lives in the
in the Inner City, and every morning, on his way
to school, he walks by this abandoned graffiti wall and
he loves the wall, but he wants to change the wall.
He wants to make it beautiful again. And so he
knows that Black Love Day is coming up, so he
(29:45):
takes the idea to his family and he says, hey,
can we can we redo this graffiti wall as a
community service project for Black Love Day? So he tells
us his parents about the idea. They love it. They
get the community involved, and they the community comes together
(30:06):
to make this wall beautiful again. And yeah, and so
throughout the story, Jaden is remembering all of the different
ways that he gives love and receives love every day.
So love him from his parents, his grandparents, his teachers,
his friends, his community. And so it's a beautiful story
(30:31):
about coming together as a community. It's about love, loving yourself,
loving your culture.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Oh it sounds great and it definitely will spread the
word about Black Love Day, which I have never heard about. Right, So, finally,
you know, when I read about you, you did Flashcards
some years ago. I recall seeing and now you have
a new the Young Historians Club, which is Flashcards. Why
don't you tell me about how you came up with
(31:03):
this and what kind of profiles are in the Young
Historians Club.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, so this was a project that I've been wanting
to do flash cards for a number of years. So
I approached an illustrator that I met on Instagram and
when I mentioned the flash cards, she was super excited
and interested. So for about two years, her and I
did this project just on our own. She would do
(31:30):
all of the illustrations and we put them up for
sale on her Etsy page, and every time we put
like a new order up. We did like fifties fifty
cards sets at a time because that was all we
could afford, and they would sell out within like twenty
four hours. And that was every time that we did this. Finally,
Uncommon Goods came knocking on our door. They took an interest.
(31:53):
They ordered one hundred sets of flash cards, put them
up on their website. They sold out as well. So
that's when I had the idea to take this to
my agent and I said, I think we have something here.
Maybe we can make this like a thing and we
can pitch it to a publisher. So my agent pitched
(32:14):
it to a publisher. They loved it immediately, and yeah,
and that's how Young Historians Club was essentially born. What
is the Young Historians Club. We came up with that
name because the first set that we have is a
Black History flash card set, so it's thirty one cards
(32:35):
featuring leaders from the present and the past. But the
publisher wanted two sets of flash cards, so they wanted
the Black History set and they wanted an additional one.
So we said okay, and that's when we came up
with the name Young Historian, Like, why don't we make
this a club because we could have multiple sets. We
(32:55):
could have a Black History set, we could have a
women in stem set, have a Latin X set, right
Asian American pacificate islander. Like the ideas that we have
are just so immense. And so the publisher brought the
first two sets and that's essentially what it is, and
they're going to be first sale in Barnes and Noble
(33:18):
stores nationwide starting in January twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Wow. That's great. That is really great. It's an element
that has been missing from our children's education, and I'm
really glad that everybody will have the opportunity to do
fun flash card games at home. I used to love
flash cards with my kids when I was little gains
that would have flash cards in them. Oh the best.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah, and so it's great. So it's not only going
to be a set of flash cards, but there's an
illustration of the person on the front. You flip the
card over. On the back, there's information about who the
person is at the bottom. We've included children's book recommendations
if you want to do further reading about the person,
and then the flash cards will also come with the
(34:04):
little booklet, and then the booklet will have additional information
as well as different ways that you can use these
splash cards either with children at home or in the schools.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Oh wow, that is great, And that actually is a
great segue because before we close, I want to ask
you about tips that you might have for parents. I mean,
you have been in the children's book game from when
your children were not quite yet born. So for parents
that are interested in helping their children, maybe helping spark
(34:39):
an interest in reading for their children and the confidence
building that comes along with culture, what do you suggest
they do at home? And then is there anything that
they can do in conjunction with the teachers in school?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Absolutely, so at home. Some of the things I've already
talked about right, reading every day if you can, right,
even if it's only like five to twenty minutes, ideally
you would want to be reading with your children at
least twenty to thirty minutes per day, or if you're
not reading with them, make sure that they are reading
(35:13):
independently for at least thirty minutes a day if you
can and when you can. But also, you know, like
I said earlier, make reading fun. Don't make it a chore,
because then your kids definitely won't want to do it.
Make sure your kids are involved in the books that
they choose to read. I think that's a big one
(35:35):
because a lot of times, you know, especially in school,
they're assigned specific books that they may have to read
at school. But when they're reading for fun or you know,
reading for enjoyment, maybe they just want to just kick
back and relax and read something that they want to read.
So obviously you want to make sure that it's still appropriate.
So you can use websites like common Sense Media. They
(35:58):
have the ratings for the books, so you can even
do your own research. You can get the title from
your child, go on to common Sense Media. Make sure
it's kind of like vetted in a way, you.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Know, as my listeners would know. I'm a huge fan
of Common Sense Media. We've even had the head of
Common Sense Media, Jim Steyer, on to talk about the
importance of parents focusing on what the content that their
children are absorbing. And yes they have reviews, they have
it just it's helpful even if the review, and mean
the review gives you a sense of what your child's
(36:30):
going to encounter in the book, just so you have
a sense of whether it's appropriate. As you said, you've
talked about home stuff. What about school. If you're let's say,
your child is not loving reading and is complaining about
the reading they have to do in school, does it
make sense to talk with a teacher about it. Oh?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Absolutely, And the sooner you can do that, the better, right,
because the last thing you want is for your child
to be falling behind or you know, just not enjoying
what they're doing, what they're reading. Absolutely, you have to
stay involved with the teachers, make sure that you understand
(37:12):
what the assignment is, what's required of your child. You know,
also like parents just get involved. And I know sometimes
it's like parents have to work or if they want
to have a life too or have other things to do.
But taking my like that fifteen twenty minutes a day,
just to check in with your child, especially if they're
(37:34):
having issues and struggling in an area, it's just going
to make so much. It's going to make it easier
for you and them and the teacher.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
And I would just add that as if your child
is struggling with reading, try not to be judgmental about it.
If they're reading anything comic books. Your kids can read
comic I mean they still exist, They're.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Still they do. Yeahah, comic books, graphic novels, right, those
are those?
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Are you? Yeah? So, I mean there might be a
sense it might be temptation to say, oh, that's not
serious reading. It's all reading is good reading, all reading.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Audiobooks count to those are huge. That's another thing that
we do as a family if we are taking a
long trip. Before we go on the trip, we go
to the library, check out a couple of audiobooks that
are you know, the kids are interested in, or that
I'm interested in, and we pop an audiobook and we
(38:28):
listen to it on the drive.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So, you know, that's a really good suggestion, particularly for
parents who don't have a lot of time to read
to their children. If all you were together in the
car is often you may be if you have an
audiobook and choosing one that everybody has an interest in,
or those longer chapter books where it's a story that's
unfolding every time you get in the car, that seems
like that would be a good opportunity. You know, it's
(38:50):
so important to spark this interest early before children get
really frustrated because reading unlock so many doors, so many Yeah,
and that's so much.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Those audio books are so well done now I am
talking about like world class narrators who are reading these
stories and then you've got the music going. It feels
like you are in a like you're listening to a movie.
It's not even a book. A lot of times, like
they're just so engaging, and so it's like sometimes like
(39:25):
we'll be listening and then we stop or something, and
then you just are like, no, wait, let's hear what's
gonna happen first, Like there's just we're all just so
into it.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Good to know it's not just some dry voice reading
the words.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
They have stepped up these audio books. I mean, I
am telling you it is.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
It is a production well I am sure there'll be
a point at which we will get to hear Eda
Extraordinaire and Ed Extraordinaire in her seven other adventures on audiobooks,
So I look forward to that. Yeah, So I'm going
to I'm going to to wrap it up here, But
first I want to say thank you Jane so much.
I'm really happy that you're here with us, and I'm
(40:05):
sure that parents listening everywhere are are happy to hear
what you're doing and are eager to get their hands
on some of your books. So there's one more thing
I want to do before you go, and that is
ask you to play the GCP Lightning Round. So I
have four quick questions for you. Okay, First one is
your favorite poem or saying.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Oh favorite poem are saying no grit, no guts now
glory Ah.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
That's a great one. Words to live by. Okay. The
second question, which is going to be easy, is your
favorite two children's books. Now, let me say it would
be the easiest if you just said your own but
besides your own books, let's assume those are your favorites.
But the favorite two children's books either that you grew
up with or that you loved reading with your kids,
(40:52):
or that you love when you've found them now, Yes,
I always.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Say Corduroy by Don Freeman. Love Corduroy, favorite of all time,
and probably The Snowy Day.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Those are two great books. Okay, so these are two
parenting questions for you. The final two give me a
mom moment that you'd love to have the ability to redo,
like something that you thinking about it, you wished that
you had done it a little differently.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Asking for help. When I my kids were young, I
had them fifteen months apart, and so my daughter was
six months and then here comes my son, and I
didn't always ask for help, so I tried to be
(41:47):
super mom.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
That is a very very valuable mom moment. And all
you young moms out there to ked because there's no
you have to ask for help. You absolutely do. And
so give me the side of that. Give me a
moment where you knew you nailed it as a mom,
like you just knocked it out the park.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Reading with my kids from day one, absolutely, I mean
that has paid off. I mean my kids are both
like amazing students in school in all subjects, and I
think just instilling that love of reading and love of
learning from very early on really helped.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Such great answers. Normally, when I do the lightning round,
then I say goodbye, boy, I want to hear about
fifty books for fifty states. Speaking of your children. Oh, yes,
tell me about this nonprofit that you all create together
that they're big participants in.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Yeah. So, fifty States fifty Books started out as just
an idea. I was in the shower one day and
the name just kind of came to me, fifty States
fifty Books, and I was like, oh, that's it. So
I get out of the shower and I go google
it to see if you know the domain name was
taken or whatever. It wasn't. So I bought the domain
(43:04):
name and I had no idea what I was going
to do, but I because I have the tech background.
I literally it took me like a day to create
the website fifty States fifty Books dot org, and I said, okay,
I'm launching this this thing. And my husband was like,
what are you talking about? And I said, I had
this idea that I want to donate fifty diverse children's
(43:25):
books to each of the fifty US states. And so
that's a total of twenty five hundred books per year.
I said, I don't know how we're going to do it,
but we're going to do it. The next day, I
created the Instagram page and I started talking about it
on my Instagram page. Initially here we read, I explained
it and I said, if you want to follow along
(43:47):
with our mission, head over to fifty States, fifty books
our Instagram page. And that day, like I got like
the first I don't know, five hundred people just followed
and they still didn't even know what it was about.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
Help.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
And so then I just started making things plea like
can you please send us books so that we can donate.
People just started sending us books in the mail, like literally,
and so that's how we started. And so yeah, every
year we collect and donate fifty books, fifty children's books
(44:24):
for kids ages birth to seventeen, and we donate fifty
books to each of the fifty US states. And we
go through all of the submissions that we receive and
we pick one person from each of the from each
of the states, and we decide, Okay, this person or
this organization we're going to send the books to.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Wow, So what do you what do your kids do
in this how did they help.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Yes, so, the kids they help with packing and shipping,
and they do help. They do help with some of
the Instagram stuff obviously, and then the website stuff. Every
year in the summer, I give my kids a break though,
so we are on break right now because it's summer break.
But we start up again in the fall. And this
(45:11):
year we do want to have a scholarship where we
give away one thousand dollars to or I don't know
if it's going to be a thousand or five hundred
to a college student who's going to measure an education
or teaching.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Oh oh man, that is great. That is great. Teaching
your children smart philanthropy from an early age, which is
really great. Yes. So, and with that, I will say
thank you again so much for being with us today. Really,
it's been great to hear this. It's been great to
see you, and I look forward to all these new
books coming out.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Thank you so much, Carol. I really appreciate you for
having me so I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
I hope everyone listening enjoyed this conversation that you'll come
back for more. Please subscribe, rate and review where you
find your podcasts, and tell your friends for more parenting
info and advice, please check out the Ground Control Parenting
website at wwwgroundcontrol parenting dot com. You can also find
us on Facebook and Instagram at ground Control Parenting and
on LinkedIn under Carol Sutton Lewis. Until the next time,
(46:17):
take care and thanks for listening.
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