September 26, 2025 • 9 mins
Guest Host Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati speaks with celebrated children’s book author Sharon Flake, whose powerful stories have inspired young readers for over two decades. Sharon is also the featured guest in Vanesse’s monthly segment “What is Philadelphia Reading?”, where she shares her literary journey and the impact of her award-winning books.
Connect with Sharon Flake
🌐 Website: sharongflake.com
📘 Facebook: facebook.com/SharonGFlake
📸 Instagram: @sharonflake
Connect with Sharon Flake
🌐 Website: sharongflake.com
📘 Facebook: facebook.com/SharonGFlake
📸 Instagram: @sharonflake
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow and joining me as she
does once a month. Every month it's Vanessa Lloyd's combody.
She does a second called VLS Journeys. What's happening, Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, it's October, and it's Halloween and a couple more
months it'd be one of the major holidays of the year.
My birthday looking forward to. I just want to get
a quick shout out. My sister had her seventy fifth
birthday and it was amazing. Her daughters pulled out the
stops with all the decorations, Shonda and Tamara and her granddaughter,
(00:36):
and then we got together with all my nieces, my nephews,
and of course all my cousins.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
You know, it's amazing how many cousins I have.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So I just want to give a quick shout out
to Arlene, Wayne, Valcita, Valerie Venita, Jeff, my brother Greg
and his delightful wife, and just say thank you for
all of you coming out. I'm not going to say
when my birthday is exactly until we get closer to December,
because I got a very special surprise or something I'm
going to do. But this morning I have a very
(01:06):
special guest. Her name is Sharon Flake. She's homegrown, she's
so well over a million children's books, a million, and
she's going to be participating in the thirty fourth Annual
African American Children's Book Fair, which is Saturday, February seventh,
And I'm giving heads up now because I want all
of you to get your kids together in the community
(01:30):
and come out to celebrate black excellence. One of the
things that I always love about the event is the
families and the joy and the people coming up to
me saying, you know, when I was a kid, I
came here, and now I'm coming with my children. So, Sharon,
one of the things I love about you is that
you stay straight to the core. Your books are written
(01:53):
with an urban kind of twist, but they all have
stories of empowerment and dealing with issue that are very
common amongst young people today. So tell us a little
bit about yourself and then I'll jump into my questions.
And plus you're my wedd Is Philadelphia reading person.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Hey, how you doing, Vanessa. I'm so happy to be
here and I'm going to encourage people to come to
the book festival. Vaness does an amazing job. The community
shows up all the time, so it'll be a big
treat to your whole family. I am from North Philadelphia.
I went to Simon Gratz. I'm a Philadelphia baby. I
(02:31):
am here all of the time, you know, about six
times a year. I live across the state in Pennsylvania.
I've been published for twenty five years or so. A
lot of people know me because of my first book,
The Skin I'm In. Of what they may not know
is since then, I've written two more books, The Family
(02:51):
I'm In and The Life I'm In.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
So go get those if you haven't picked them up yet.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
And don't forget that picture book that's.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
True and I forget to say it is you are
not a cat and you make me sneeze. And I'm
shopping a picture book around right now, so I'm keeping
my fingers for us well.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
One of the things that was unique about The Skin
I'm In was the way that the book jacket looked
because there was a black girl that looked like a
lot of people that are in our community, and it
talked about all kinds of issues that were impacting young people.
And I thought the thing that really resonated with me
(03:30):
was the fact that publishers took a chance because they
usually don't do those types of books, and they took
a chance on doing a book that really was speaking
to our community, didn't have fantasy, didn't have a love triangle,
all those things that are really popular for black titles
in the children's book world. So why did you decide
(03:52):
to take that step and what did you do before
you started writing children's books? Because I know you did
something fabulous.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
You know, I worked with kids for about eight or
ten years in foster care in a group home. When
I wrote The Skin I'm In, I had been in
public relations for about eight or ten years at the
University of Pittsburgh, and.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
I, you know, God just smiled down on me. I
was given birth.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I gave birth to a dark skinned girl, Britney, and
she changed my life. I was writing already, but then
I started telling her stories about dark skinned girls who
could fly in soft crimes and all manner of things,
because I wanted her to feel good about the.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Skin she was in. One thing led to another, and
I started writing the book.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
The Skin I'm In wasn't her story, but I tell
people had Brittany not been born. I'm not sure I
would have been published. I don't know that I would
have had the motivation to keep going. So I owe
that book to.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Her, and I owe my career to all.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Those young people out there who saw that book and
picked that book up, and teachers and librarians and people
like You've a mess who had book festivals and bookstores
who said we have to have it. It's such an
iconic jacket, right. The photo is a really close shot
of a dark skinned girl. That was my editor's idea,
(05:13):
Andra Davis Pinkney, who is a big deal in this business.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
And an editor. It helps to have black folks in
the business.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
In the business who can speak to who speak to
our issues. You know, I'm a dark skin I'm a
dark skinned girl, a beautiful, dark skinned girl. So if
somebody's out there upset that I said I was beautiful
this morning, because I got it going on, okay, But
there are issues with colorism in our community. A lot
of young women of a certain age they don't feel.
(05:41):
I came of age when people would say the word
black was synonymous with ugly, and I lived in a
household of fair skinned people. But my father always told me,
my mother, my uncle's that I was beautiful. And then
I went to Italy and I was the queen of
the ball. But at any the thing is that these of.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
A certain age. But I will tell.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
You it is still a big, big problem now. And
I think when I wrote the book, I knew colorism
was an issue, but until I started going to schools
and hearing letters from black girls in America across the
seas that were saying, you know, I hated myself. I
hated my skin color until I read your book. And
(06:25):
now I love myself exactly the way I am. So
it's still a big problem.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well, but we're up against the clock always. So the
last two books I've got like two minutes before we
jump into what is Philadelphia reading. The last two books
were The Family I'm In. Is that the latest one
coming out? Because you got a book about boys and
their fathers, boys and their fathers.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
The Family I'm In came out this year. It's about
boys and their fathers and their relationships.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
So pick that up.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
I'm hearing really good things about it from men who
are reading it with their sons.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
And you got to Kerkis Award too.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
I got the Kirkis Award for The Life I'm In.
That's the book.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
People who read The Skin I'm In know there was
a bully and they always wanted to know what is
Charlie's doing. Well, pick up The Life I'm In and
you'll yeah The Life I'm In and you'll find out
what Charlotte was up to. Pick up The Family I'm In,
you'll find out what the boys from the first book
were up to.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
One of the things that I want people to know
at the thirty fourth on your African American Children's Book Fair.
You know Peico always debuts books, brand new books. They'll
be giving away, but these are books that are winning
the awards and we like to premiere books at that
book fair, and Sharon's book is one of those. So Sharon,
before the clock runs out on me, we're going to do.
(07:45):
What is Philadelphia reading? So quickly, just the name of
the book.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Here we go. What book are you reading?
Speaker 5 (07:51):
The autobiography of William Penn.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
First book you read, Dick and Jane to be real honest.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Best book you've read, The Fire, next time Words book
you've read I never say.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Your go to author.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Nikki Giovanni Buyer or Burr. I buy what books should
everyone have in their library?
Speaker 5 (08:13):
The sixteen nineteen project.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Fiction or non fiction?
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Non fiction?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You have a literary dinner named three people from the
literary community.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
You must have Jason.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
Reynolds, Isabelle Wilkerson and Maya Angeline.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
You got all the dark skinned people up in there.
If you wrote a book about your life, what would
be the title.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
My little corner of the world.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Well, thank you for sharing a piece of your corner
with me this morning. Well, folks, we've come to the
end of the segment. As always, continued to read, buy
a book, and of course have a blessed day.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
That was Vanessa Lord's gumbody with VLS journeys. I'm Lorraine Ballard.
Tomorrow we'll have more insight after these messages. Di
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow and joining me as she
does once a month. Every month it's Vanessa Lloyd's combody.
She does a second called VLS Journeys. What's happening, Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, it's October, and it's Halloween and a couple more
months it'd be one of the major holidays of the year.
My birthday looking forward to. I just want to get
a quick shout out. My sister had her seventy fifth
birthday and it was amazing. Her daughters pulled out the
stops with all the decorations, Shonda and Tamara and her granddaughter,
(00:36):
and then we got together with all my nieces, my nephews,
and of course all my cousins.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
You know, it's amazing how many cousins I have.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So I just want to give a quick shout out
to Arlene, Wayne, Valcita, Valerie Venita, Jeff, my brother Greg
and his delightful wife, and just say thank you for
all of you coming out. I'm not going to say
when my birthday is exactly until we get closer to December,
because I got a very special surprise or something I'm
going to do. But this morning I have a very
(01:06):
special guest. Her name is Sharon Flake. She's homegrown, she's
so well over a million children's books, a million, and
she's going to be participating in the thirty fourth Annual
African American Children's Book Fair, which is Saturday, February seventh,
And I'm giving heads up now because I want all
of you to get your kids together in the community
(01:30):
and come out to celebrate black excellence. One of the
things that I always love about the event is the
families and the joy and the people coming up to
me saying, you know, when I was a kid, I
came here, and now I'm coming with my children. So, Sharon,
one of the things I love about you is that
you stay straight to the core. Your books are written
(01:53):
with an urban kind of twist, but they all have
stories of empowerment and dealing with issue that are very
common amongst young people today. So tell us a little
bit about yourself and then I'll jump into my questions.
And plus you're my wedd Is Philadelphia reading person.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Hey, how you doing, Vanessa. I'm so happy to be
here and I'm going to encourage people to come to
the book festival. Vaness does an amazing job. The community
shows up all the time, so it'll be a big
treat to your whole family. I am from North Philadelphia.
I went to Simon Gratz. I'm a Philadelphia baby. I
(02:31):
am here all of the time, you know, about six
times a year. I live across the state in Pennsylvania.
I've been published for twenty five years or so. A
lot of people know me because of my first book,
The Skin I'm In. Of what they may not know
is since then, I've written two more books, The Family
(02:51):
I'm In and The Life I'm In.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
So go get those if you haven't picked them up yet.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
And don't forget that picture book that's.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
True and I forget to say it is you are
not a cat and you make me sneeze. And I'm
shopping a picture book around right now, so I'm keeping
my fingers for us well.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
One of the things that was unique about The Skin
I'm In was the way that the book jacket looked
because there was a black girl that looked like a
lot of people that are in our community, and it
talked about all kinds of issues that were impacting young people.
And I thought the thing that really resonated with me
(03:30):
was the fact that publishers took a chance because they
usually don't do those types of books, and they took
a chance on doing a book that really was speaking
to our community, didn't have fantasy, didn't have a love triangle,
all those things that are really popular for black titles
in the children's book world. So why did you decide
(03:52):
to take that step and what did you do before
you started writing children's books? Because I know you did
something fabulous.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
You know, I worked with kids for about eight or
ten years in foster care in a group home. When
I wrote The Skin I'm In, I had been in
public relations for about eight or ten years at the
University of Pittsburgh, and.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
I, you know, God just smiled down on me. I
was given birth.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I gave birth to a dark skinned girl, Britney, and
she changed my life. I was writing already, but then
I started telling her stories about dark skinned girls who
could fly in soft crimes and all manner of things,
because I wanted her to feel good about the.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Skin she was in. One thing led to another, and
I started writing the book.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
The Skin I'm In wasn't her story, but I tell
people had Brittany not been born. I'm not sure I
would have been published. I don't know that I would
have had the motivation to keep going. So I owe
that book to.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Her, and I owe my career to all.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Those young people out there who saw that book and
picked that book up, and teachers and librarians and people
like You've a mess who had book festivals and bookstores
who said we have to have it. It's such an
iconic jacket, right. The photo is a really close shot
of a dark skinned girl. That was my editor's idea,
(05:13):
Andra Davis Pinkney, who is a big deal in this business.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
And an editor. It helps to have black folks in
the business.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
In the business who can speak to who speak to
our issues. You know, I'm a dark skin I'm a
dark skinned girl, a beautiful, dark skinned girl. So if
somebody's out there upset that I said I was beautiful
this morning, because I got it going on, okay, But
there are issues with colorism in our community. A lot
of young women of a certain age they don't feel.
(05:41):
I came of age when people would say the word
black was synonymous with ugly, and I lived in a
household of fair skinned people. But my father always told me,
my mother, my uncle's that I was beautiful. And then
I went to Italy and I was the queen of
the ball. But at any the thing is that these of.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
A certain age. But I will tell.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
You it is still a big, big problem now. And
I think when I wrote the book, I knew colorism
was an issue, but until I started going to schools
and hearing letters from black girls in America across the
seas that were saying, you know, I hated myself. I
hated my skin color until I read your book. And
(06:25):
now I love myself exactly the way I am. So
it's still a big problem.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well, but we're up against the clock always. So the
last two books I've got like two minutes before we
jump into what is Philadelphia reading. The last two books
were The Family I'm In. Is that the latest one
coming out? Because you got a book about boys and
their fathers, boys and their fathers.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
The Family I'm In came out this year. It's about
boys and their fathers and their relationships.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
So pick that up.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
I'm hearing really good things about it from men who
are reading it with their sons.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
And you got to Kerkis Award too.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
I got the Kirkis Award for The Life I'm In.
That's the book.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
People who read The Skin I'm In know there was
a bully and they always wanted to know what is
Charlie's doing. Well, pick up The Life I'm In and
you'll yeah The Life I'm In and you'll find out
what Charlotte was up to. Pick up The Family I'm In,
you'll find out what the boys from the first book
were up to.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
One of the things that I want people to know
at the thirty fourth on your African American Children's Book Fair.
You know Peico always debuts books, brand new books. They'll
be giving away, but these are books that are winning
the awards and we like to premiere books at that
book fair, and Sharon's book is one of those. So Sharon,
before the clock runs out on me, we're going to do.
(07:45):
What is Philadelphia reading? So quickly, just the name of
the book.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Here we go. What book are you reading?
Speaker 5 (07:51):
The autobiography of William Penn.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
First book you read, Dick and Jane to be real honest.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Best book you've read, The Fire, next time Words book
you've read I never say.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Your go to author.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Nikki Giovanni Buyer or Burr. I buy what books should
everyone have in their library?
Speaker 5 (08:13):
The sixteen nineteen project.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Fiction or non fiction?
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Non fiction?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You have a literary dinner named three people from the
literary community.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
You must have Jason.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
Reynolds, Isabelle Wilkerson and Maya Angeline.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
You got all the dark skinned people up in there.
If you wrote a book about your life, what would
be the title.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
My little corner of the world.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Well, thank you for sharing a piece of your corner
with me this morning. Well, folks, we've come to the
end of the segment. As always, continued to read, buy
a book, and of course have a blessed day.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
That was Vanessa Lord's gumbody with VLS journeys. I'm Lorraine Ballard.
Tomorrow we'll have more insight after these messages. Di
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