Triangle mom, author works to encourage black children's book authors
Kelly Starling Lyons is an award-winning children's book author and a Triangle mom with a new book out this week and a mission to encourage more books that feature black characters.
Posted — UpdatedI've written about Lyons before as she's released other books. As an African-American author, mom and reader, she's worked hard to write books that feature black characters - an effort that started after reading "Something Beautiful" by Sharon Dennis Wyeth, a picture book about a young girl who searches for beauty in her neighborhood. Lyons was an adult when she first read it.
"It was the first time I saw an African-American girl featured on the cover of a picture book. As I read the story, I was touched in a special way," she writes on her website. "Growing up, I rarely saw kids who looked like me as the main characters of children's books. I loved books and treasured every story I read. But after reading "Something Beautiful," I knew I had missed something important – reflections of myself. Right then, I decided to add my voice."
Today, her books include "One Million Men and Me," about the Million Man March; "Ellen's Broom," about a young girl who watches her parents, former slaves, register their marriage during Reconstruction; and "Tea Cakes for Tosh," about the history behind a grandmother's tea cake recipe.
Why is it so important to encourage books that tell stories from all angles? They explore other cultures and experiences, which are important for all of us to read and understand. They also give children of all races characters to identify with and emulate.
Here's what Lyons recommended:
- Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson
- Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington
- Aunt Flossie's Hats & Crabcakes Later by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
- I Love My Hair by Natasha Tarpley
- Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolen
- Stevie by John Steptoe
- Moses by Carole Boston Weatherfor
- Jazzy Miz Mozetta by Brenda C. Roberts
- Max and the Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper
- Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers
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