#African American children books

[uwmspeccoll]

Staff Pick of the Week

My name is Elizabeth Voorhorst, and I am a new writing intern for Special Collections this semester. It is a pleasure to share this space, as I am excited to delve into the vast sea of books that Special Collections makes a home for.

I am an English major, with a focus on creative writing. Because of this, my time spent in Special Collections will be focused predominantly on fairy tales and folklore, perhaps dipping into mythology when curiosity and inspiration strikes hardest.

For this week, I wanted to focus on black creators and their works for Black History Month. Because my pride and passion is folklore and fairy tales, I thought it would be fun to take a look at what we have in our collection and share it with you!

Retellings are always enjoyable, as you get to see the way writers recreate and offer their own flare and heritage to the story. One such story is The Girl Who Spun Gold, a retelling of the German classic fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin. This retelling was written by Virginia Hamilton (1932-2002) and illustrated by Leo Dillon (1933-2012) and Diane Dillon (1933- ).The book was published 1n 2000 by Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

The story is about a West Indian girl named Quashiba, whose mother lies to Big King that she is able to spin golden thread. The King takes Quashiba as his queen, expecting her to fill whole rooms with golden fabrics and finery, which of course she would be unable to do. However, she meets a creature who offers to help, but demands that in three days she must guess his name correctly or be bound to him forever.

Quashiba is now able to fulfill the King’s continuous demands, but is unable to guess the name of her helper, until the King reveals to her that he ran across a strange creature in the woods who was dancing and singing a song that included his name, Lit’mahn Bittyun. So, on the final night, after the room is filled with fabrics and wondrous goods, Quashiba plays dumb for the first two guesses, and on the last guess she gives him his full name and he explodes into a confetti of golden specks. The King repents his greed, but only after three years and a day does Quashiba reconcile with him.

The absolutely stunning illustrations for The Girl Who Spun Gold were made using a four-color process with gold as a fifth color. The Dillons comment on the painting process, stating:

Knowing the difficulty of painting with metallic paint as well as the difficulty of reproducing gold, we still chose to use it, for the story itself revolved around the concept of gold. The art was done with acrylic paint on acetate, over-painted with gold paint. The gold borders were created using gold leaf.

The book was printed on one-hundred-pound Nymolla Matte paper, and each illustration was spot-varnished.  Color separations were made by Digicon Imaging Inc., Buffalo, New York, and the book was printed and bound by Tien Wah Press, Singapore, with production supervision by Angela Biola and Alison Forner. Along with Leo & Diane Dillon, the book was also designed with help from Kathleen Westray.

View more work by African American artists.

View more posts concerning African Americans.

View more Staff Picks.

- Elizabeth V., Special Collections Undergraduate Writing Intern

[sassafrasmoonshine]

Sean Qualls • American picture book illustrator

Sean Qualls has illustrated many non-fiction books for children. Pictred above is a sampler of illustrations for: Grandad Mandela, Lullaby ( based on a poem by Langston Hughes); Lower right: an untitled painting; lower left, illustration for the book Why am I Me?

[bbeeew]

howdy gamers

Small delema

I'm writing a book called "where's my hair" and all the different ways people style it (specifically curly hair). One problem, I need background information on why people style their hairs and how they do it

And I want specifics. Tell me about how you shave your head until it's only an inch tall and you braid it into 5 foot strands to stand up for yourself for being told it was weird and wrong

Tell me about how you have hair so thick that the only way to maintain it is when it's impossibly short

Tell me about girlies with 4c hair that grow it out so that they can die it any color of the rainbow because they love the colors

Tell me about the pale girls with hair that just barely curls so people say they don't have curly hair.

But most importantly

Tell me your stories and reblog this so I can hear from everyone

[bookstoreadbtr]

American History Series is a Children's Book Series. Each book includes American inventors and innovators who have contributed to American history and it's culture. The series is written and illustrated by Casey Bell.

#childrensbooks #elementarybooks #elementaryteachers #historyteachers #teachers #parents #booksforchildren #childrensbookauthor

[8-rock]

Some images from my new picture book, WHAT DO BROTHAS DO ALL DAY?, which is out tomorrow! 📚 https://bit.ly/Brothaspb WHAT DO BROTHAS DO ALL DAY? was inspired by a classic. I first encountered Richard Scarry’s WHAT DO PEOPLE DO ALL DAY? in the early 1970s when I was about six years old. The world of adults, with its grocery lists, PTA meetings, shopping trips, and dinner parties, seemed both tantalizingly exotic and impossibly complex. Today, those same descriptors can be applied to the ways that many people of all ages perceive Black men.

[bruceawaynefrfr]

Why there only 7 schools in the Harry Potter world

[africanamericanreports]

I found this post from 2019 about a children's book featuring a Black mermaid. Plesae support this author!

[successfulblackparenting]

Kamala Harris Inspires A New Generation: Leadership, Voting, And The Rise Of Black Girl Power

Kamala Harris is running for President of the United States. She is anticipated to become the first woman of color to get the nomination from the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Kamala attended Howard University, one of the most prestigious Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States. Howard University, often called “The Mecca,” gave Kamala a strong sense of…

[cocoawithbooks]

Mahogany is the Smarter Version of Little Red Riding Hood

My kids called this book the “smart version of Little Red Riding Hood.” We all really liked Mahogany by Janay Brown-Wood, a new, melanin-rich version of the popular fairytale. The author incorporates contemporary ideas, the importance of nature and the richness of Black culture into this retelling. Buy on Bookshop Mahogany has a love for fashion and music. In this version, she has designed her…

[daudkhanartisti74]

Hi everyone!

I'm an illustrator and artist. I'm good time manager and when I work for somebody's project I'm 100% into it. Please, respect my time and write clearly your expectations. English is most preferable language for me

[pieceoplastic]

The Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois for Young Readers

[uwmspeccoll]

A Well-Chapeaued Feathursday

Birds in Hats!

Our graduate intern Olivia is currently preparing a major exhibition on the work  of wood engraver, illustrator, designer, letterpress printer, and fine press publisher Barry Moser. He is well known, at least in fine press and book enthusiast circles, for his distinctive engravings and exquisitely-designed limited editions from his Pennyroyal Press. The rest of the world, however, mainly knows him for his illustrations for children’s books, which are usually executed in watercolors. We hold many of Moser’s fine press publications, but only a few examples of his children’s books. The Curriculum Collection in our general library, however, holds quite a number of his children’s books, and we are borrowing a few to include in the exhibition.

We are especially tickled by Moser’s humorous paintings of anthropomorphized birds in hats for Virginia Hamilton’s collection of African American folktales, When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing, published in 1996 by The Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. The illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to this set of lively and entertaining jewels of American folklore.

Since the book was mostly designed by Moser, it bears an extensive colophon, usually reserved for fine press publications. This is why we know that the paintings were executed in transparent watercolor on handmade Barcham Green paper, the types are Sumner Stone’s Stone Serif Medium (1987) and Gudrun Zapf von Hesse’s Diotima Italic (1953), the color separations were made by Bright Lights, Ltd in Singapore, and the edition was printed and bound by Tien Wah Press in Singapore. Probably more information than any child would need to know, but we sure appreciate it.

View more posts on work by Barry Moser.

View more Feathursday posts.

[sassafrasmoonshine]

Let the Children March • Frank Morrison, illustrator • (American, b. 1971) • Author, Monica Clark-Robinson • Clarion Books, publisher • 2018

In 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, thousands of African American children volunteered to march for their rights after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak. They protested the laws that kept black people separate from white people. Facing fear, hate, and danger, these children used their voices to change the world.

[jpf-sydney]

Yuki no hi

New item:

This is the story of the silent wonder of a city snow and Peter's solitary delight in it as he slides down snow mountains and takes a snowball home in his pocket.

Shelf: 726.6 KEA (@ tadoku section) Yuki no hi. by Ezura=Jakku Kītsu ; translated by Kijima Hajime.

Tōkyō : Kaiseisha, 1969. ISBN: 9784033281209

[32] unnumbered pages : colour illustrations ; 23 x 26 cm. (Shin'yaku ehon).

Translated into Japanese from the English, hiragana and katakana only.

This book is suitable for tadoku, extensive reading for learners of Japanese-language. Please find details about tadoku and our reading night event on our tadoku web page.

[blog-karl]

New Site, Books & Press

We’ve renamed our site! KidsWorldBooks.com is the new place to find kids’ books with black, white, Asian, Islander, First Nations/Native American, and Hispanic characters! Please explore our new products (mostly book bundles, ebooks, and lesson plans—teachers: see below). Every purchase gets you a free ebook or lesson plan. Sign up for more free ebooks/lesson plans—and leave comments/stars on…

[8-rock]

I made TheGrio Holiday List! 🥰