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#firstchapterfriday is an easy way to get your students or campers reading!

Check out the first chapter, read aloud to you by the author, of my spooky Southern Gothic middle grade series.

"Despite a lifetime of breaking the rules, twelve-year-old Issa Igwe never expected to land in witch prison. At least that’s what she calls The Siren School outside of its hallowed halls. It’s actually the country’s most prestigious boarding school for magically gifted girls, and Issa’s parents insist that she attend . . . even though the school’s creepy history is the stuff of legend."

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2018 Summer Reading List - Banging Books for Boys K-5

2018 Summer Reading List – Banging Books for Boys K-5

It’s summer and I want to hit you guys with a few reading lists, while I completely understand that gender is fluid and there is no way to determine reading interests by boys and girls I still find it useful to give parents and teachers and librarians some “try this first” books for recommendations.  Drag me in the comments if you must.

This list will be skewed toward representation of boys of…

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Of Beauty, Blood and The Legacy of Snow White, A Review: The Belles

Of Beauty, Blood and The Legacy of Snow White, A Review: The Belles

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

448 pages Freeform (February 6, 2018) 978-1484728499

Belles are blessed by the Goddess of Beauty. Only they are born beautiful while the people of Orleon have been cursed. Their bodies are gray, their hair, rough and strawlike, their eyes, blood red. They are ugly and they hate their ugliness. The Belles, blessed among them, use their powers to temporarily alter…

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5 YA Brown Girl Beach Reads to Slay Your Summer

5 YA Brown Girl Beach Reads to Slay Your Summer

Now, I’m using “Beach Read” loosely. We all know that contemporary fiction books about brown girls just having fun and living their lives and falling in and out of love and friendships are super hard to find. The industry is slowly rectifying this. Although, I do have a list of contemporaries that will leave you feeling good and frustration free. Take a look.

  Let’s Talk About Loveby Claire Kann

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Review: Children of Blood and Bone

Review: Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

537 pages

1509871357

Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) March 6, 2018

In the land of Orisha magic is dead. The monarchy has crushed it and everyone who ever held it shining in their hands and in their blood is dead, including Zelie’s mother. In a brutal ethnic cleansing the King of Orisha wiped out all of the magi in the land, leaving their children, the white…

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Love Craft: Learning to Love the Moment While Reaching for the Goal (Free Printable)

Love Craft: Learning to Love the Moment While Reaching for the Goal (Free Printable)

If you’re following me on Instragram , you know I’ve been posting a theme of the week and this week’s theme is love. Love should be rooted in everything that we do. Now, you’re wondering if love is infused in washing the dishes and taking out the trash, but it is. You love yourself and your family so you want them to come home to a clean and healthy environment. Love motivates you to do that. So…

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Review: There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce

Review: There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce

There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce Morgan Parker Tin House Books; 1 edition (February 14, 2017)  978-1941040539

  I write poetry, but I haven’t read very much of it. I must say that I don’t understand the twists, turns and side conversations that the brain of the poet is having in a lot of modern poetry, but that doesn’t keep me from trying. This collection is very accessible in that I…

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Heartless: What Real Story Feedback Looks Like

Heartless: What Real Story Feedback Looks Like

Short stories are a great way to play with character and setting and dialogue. It allows you to really shoot for the fences because you only have so much time to get to the point. You can be really imaginative and if you suck at it, well, it didn’t take that much time out of your creative life. You can also submit shorts to a wide variety of publications. The path from your brain to the page and…

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Review: The Body is Not an Apology

Review: The Body is Not an Apology

The Body is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love Sonya Renee Taylor 978-1626569768 Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (February 13, 2018)

Isn’t that a beautiful cover? It is. It drew me in, but the idea of radical self-love and the image of this beautiful, dark, and big girl on the front cover really drew me in because our society tells us that you must be thin, light-skinned, and…

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Gearing Up For #DVPit - Agent Tracking Template

Gearing Up For #DVPit – Agent Tracking Template

We’re edging up on #dvpit and I know we’re all excited about the potential of getting our work into the hands of as many potential agents as possible, but when I began querying the emails were flying out and requests were coming in and it was hard to remember who was sent what and when. Organization is key when you’re deep in the query trenches. Some people will want to just the query or the…

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  How to Be Here: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living by Rob Bell Publication Date: March 8, 2016 Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers I’ve had a hard time concentrating lately and with a few health issues I’ve had to slow down a bit. When you do that it becomes harder to keep those big questions away and you become extra critical of your life. Those big questions pop up when your body reminds…

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Ambition Isn't A Dirty Word

Ambition Isn’t A Dirty Word

Ambition isn’t a dirty word, but I’ve sure avoided it like it was. Sure, I have goals, but that is different from naked ambition. So many of us have been set on a track for stability that had nothing to do with our personal ambitions, it had everything to do with putting one foot in front of the other on a prescribed track. Go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a moderately…

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Black Panther Self-Study Mini-Curriculum

Black Panther Self-Study Mini-Curriculum

Black Panther is a juggernaut and it has ignited a renewed interest in Pan Africanism, Afro-futurism and the relationship between Africa and America. But what do those words mean? I’ve created a list of articles to help you study, as well as a list of words and questions for self reflection. I’ve used GALILEO to pull the list, which is available to all students in Georgia, but you may be able to…

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Flash Fiction: The Birthday Party

Flash Fiction: The Birthday Party

Writing Prompt: “Make a wish,” he said. “Make a wish,” he said. She closed her eyes and blew out the candles.It was easy. There were only three because that was all he could find in the junk drawer in the kitchen. “What did you wish for?” he asked after she’d opened her eyes. “You know I can’t tell you that,” she teased though they both knew she wished not to be in pain anymore. they’d both had…

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Query, Quantity and Quality

Query, Quantity and Quality

I finished Ptolemy and Sarah. If you’ve been following along with me on this journey, then you know I’ve been saying I’m finished for a good while now and that is because you’re never really done when you’re trying to get things right. I’ve written about 200,000 words for this book with multiple attempts at prologues and epilogues, plot twists that had to be dropped and characters who had to be…

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10 Ways to Support #ownvoices YA Authors in 2018 Buy their books! This is the biggest one. Support comes in many forms, but cold hard cash is still king.

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5 Indie and Micopress Black Women Authors Rocking YA

Going indie is a great way for a lot of authors, and especially Black authors to get their work into the hands of readers without having to contend with the restrictions on subject matter and representation that traditional publishing may have. Check out these five black women, including ME, that are rocking YA. A Bitter Pill to Swallow by Tiffany Gholar On the edge of the Chicago medical…