Throwback Thursday: Carole Boston Weatherford on Persistence & Poetry

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Congratulations to Carole Boston Weatherford on the publication of Kin: Rooted in Hope, illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford (Atheneum, September 19, 2023). From the promotional copy:

Carole and Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s ancestors are among the founders of Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in slavery,

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Nonfiction for Older Readers: Maureen Charles & Ashley Walker Talk About Collaborating on a Nonfiction Project

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By Stephani Martinell Eaton

Today I am excited to introduce our Cynsations readers to Maureen Charles and Ashley Walker who recently collaborated on a nonfiction project for older readers. Their book Music Mavens from Chicago Review Press comes out this fall as part of their Women of Power series.

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Guest Post: Janet Wong & Sylvia Vardell Take Us Behind the Scenes of their New Poetry Anthology

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By Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

Janet: More than a year ago, back in February 2020 (although it seems like 2010…) we had an open call for poems for HOP TO IT: Poems to Get You Moving (Pomelo Books, 2020). Our plan was to curate an anthology of 75 poems that encourage movement—short poems to help “get the wiggles out.”

We first thought about doing a movement-themed book at the end of 2015,

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Guest Interview: Kekla Magoon & Carole Boston Weatherford Discuss the Need to Write “Untold” Stories

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By Kekla Magoon

As I was working on the initial draft of my new picture book biography, The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership and Legacy illustrated by Laura Freeman (Quill Tree Books, 2021), I naturally gravitated toward reading biographies written by other children’s writers, for inspiration and to gather a sense of the many and varied styles that were possible.

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Guest Post: Catherine Stier on Casting Light in the Darkness, Writing for Young Readers on Difficult Topics

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By Catherine Stier

Image above: “Sunlight through storm clouds 2” by Holaday98 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Following the publication of my picture book When A Kid Like Me Fights Cancer, illustrated by Angel Chang (Albert Whitman & Co., 2019), a reviewer stated something that struck a chord.

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Interview: Author Carole Boston Weatherford & Illustrator Jeffery Boston Weatherford

Interview: Author Carole Boston Weatherford & Illustrator Jeffery Boston Weatherford

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By Carole Boston Weatherford
& Jeffrey Boston Weatherford

From Carole

Set during World War II, You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen (Atheneum, 2016) follows the training, trials and triumphs of the U.S. military’s first African American pilots.

The book pairs my poems with scratchboard illustrations by my son,

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