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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, Jeffrey Boston Weatherford.

The title is our first collaboration and Jeffery's publication debut. The book, which includes a detailed timeline and links to primary sources, connects to both the language arts and social studies curricula.

You Can Fly had a long incubation period. The egg may have been laid during a family trip to Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. The earliest version of the text was for a picture book written in second person.

After I was unable to sell that manuscript, I sat on the egg for a few more years. Then I began re-envisioning and reshaping the manuscript as a poetry collection for middle grades-up. I switched the point of view to first person under the title "The Last Tuskegee Airmen Tells All." Still not satisfied, I changed to third person. Finally, I settled on second person.

Around that time, Jeffery came on board. During a summer internship in children's book illustration, he created digital art to accompany my poems. We sold the package, but just before the book was about to hatch, the flight got cancelled.

Carole & Jeffery in 2000

I began to wonder if the book would ever leave the nest. I continued to revise the manuscript and to add poems. Jeffery and I decided to scrap the digital art in favor of scratchboard illustrations.

Armed with a revised manuscript and sample drawings, we sold the package to Atheneum.

In the subsequent year, Jeffery completed the illustrations and I added a few new poems.

In mid-April, Jeffery and I received our comp copies.

Our first book together finally has wings.

Fly, little book, fly!

Author & Illustrator Interview

Jeffery and I recently interviewed each other about You Can Fly.

Jeffery: Why did you want to write this book?

Carole: The Tuskegee Airmen's saga moved me personally. It is powerful—historically, politically and emotionally. I thought the story begged for a poetic treatment.

Carole: You were a serious gamer growing up. Did gaming influence how you illustrated the battle scenes?

Jeffery: Yes, absolutely. I had lots of residual visual references from battles across galaxies. I played everything from Halo to Call of Duty.

Jeffery: When did you first notice my artistic talent?

Carole: Your kindergarten teacher prodded you to finish coloring and work up to potential. By third grade, I was concerned that you were doodling planes, cars, weapons and anime characters in your notebook rather than paying attention.

Around middle school, I realized that your drawings were good. I put you in studio art classes, starting with cartooning. By high school, you were taking private art lessons with the assistant principal who became a mentor.

Carole: What is your favorite illustration from the book?

Jeffery: My favorite is of the boxers Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. It's a closeup scene from their historic rematch.

Jeffery: What's yours?

Carole: The one where two planes on a mission have bombed an enemy aircraft. The explosion is so animated; like a comic book.

Jeffery: What is your favorite poem from the book?

Carole: It's "Head to the Sky," the first poem in the book and also the first that I wrote—early on when the project was envisioned as a picture book. "Head to the Sky" reflects the power of a dream fueled by self-determination.

Carole: Tell me about your first flight.

Jeffery: I had a window seat and was looking outside. As the plane sped down the runway, I said, "We're blasting off!"

Carole: That was hilarious. Well, your career as a children's book illustrator is off to a flying start. How did it feel when you first saw the printed book?

Jeffery: Like a child at Christmas.

From the promotional copy:

I WANT YOU! says the poster of Uncle Sam. But if you’re a young black man in 1940, he doesn’t want you in the cockpit of a war plane. Yet you are determined not to let that stop your dream of flying.

So when you hear of a civilian pilot training program at Tuskegee Institute, you leap at the chance. Soon you are learning engineering and mechanics, how to communicate in code, how to read a map. At last the day you’ve longed for is here: you are flying!

From training days in Alabama to combat on the front lines in Europe, this is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the groundbreaking African-American pilots of World War II.

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  April is National Poetry month so to spice up my interviews I decided to talk to internationally renowned poet and anthologist, Lee Bennett Hopkins.  In 1989 he received the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion for “outstanding contributions to the field of children’s … Continue reading →

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The winners have been announced for this year’s NAACP Image Awards. The organization honored entertainers, filmmakers, movies, television shows, music, writers and works of literature.

Entertainment Weekly reports that the winners were revealed during a ceremony hosted by actor Anthony Anderson. We’ve posted the full list of winning book titles below. (via The Wrap)

2016 NAACP Image Award Winners (Literature Categories)

Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction: Stand Your Ground by Victoria Christopher Murrary (Touchstone)

Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction: Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga by Pamela Newkirk (HarperCollins/Amistad)

Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author: The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma (Little, Brown & Company)

Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/ Auto-Biography: Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau)

Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional: Soul Food Love: Healthy Recipes Inspired by One Hundred Years of Cooking in a Black Family by Alice Randall & Caroline Randall Williams (Clarkson Potter)

Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry: How to Be Drawn by Terrance Hayes (Penguin Books / Penguin Random House)

Outstanding Literary Work – Children: Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Jamey Christoph (Albert Whitman & Company)

Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens: X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz & Kekla Magoon (Candlewick Press)

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KT: I was excited to see this book come in because I have long been a fan of Gordon Parks’s photography, and I was eager to learn more about him. Carole Boston Weatherford’s book is less a biography than it is the story of how he found his calling. When he was twenty-five, he was so taken by a magazine photo-essay about migrant farmers that he bought a used camera and began to document what he observed.

Artist Jamey Christoph faced several challenges with illustrating this book: to start with, there’s the historical bit and the different settings, both of which would have required research. Christoph does both really well, giving a remarkable sense of time and place through his muted stylized paintings.

And then there’s the whole challenge of making the pictures interesting when most of the action in the book involves Parks taking photographs again and again. And again. Here’s where I think Christoph’s art really shines. He focuses on Parks (always easily identifiable by the camera strap and camera hanging from his shoulder) as the observer and shows us what Parks is seeing. In each of these illustrations, Parks is off to one side, often framed by light, looking at something that strikes him. His obvious fascination with what he is seeing causes us to look more closely, too. We see the old man and little boy sitting in an alley. We see the mother and daughter walking past the restaurant with the “Whites Only!” sign posted in the window. We see the old charwoman scrubbing the floor in the government building. We really see them, just as Parks’s photos of these subjects makes us see them.

Most amazing: none of Christoph’s art actually looks like photos, even the ones that are supposed to be some of Parks’s most famous photos. The only way we know they’re illustrations of photos is by the white frames around them, and that they’re painted in brown tone rather than color.

Robin: It’s also clear that Christoph loves the subject matter. Whenever I read a book by an illustrator or author I do not know, I usually do a little research. This time, I went to the interwebs to find out about Jamey Christoph. His website was bare bones, but I was able to find his older blog and find out a little more about him. He appears to be quite young, is a freelance artist, and has drawn a lot of Playbill covers. He has also illustrated about ten books. I don’t think I am speaking out of turn when I say this current book is the most serious book he has taken on. On his blog, he says that he didn’t know a lot about Parks and details why he wanted to be a part of this book. To work with Carole Boston Weatherford must have been an amazing learning experience. If you poke around on his blog, you will see the two of them visiting a Washington, DC, third-grade class and passing out free copies of the book.

But I digress. When I was doing research, I found original photographs of Ella Watson [the subject of “American Gothic,” one of Parks’s most famous photos] and her family. I assume the committee will be finding these as well. I remember doing this sort of research when I was on the committee. I probably would call on a photographer to help me look at the originals in light of the artist’s interpretation if the book seems to have traction with my committee. (By this time of year, each member of the committee would know how many suggestions each book has, and, in a few short weeks, the members will know how many nominations each book has after the first round of nominations.)

KT, you said you were impressed that the illustrations don’t look like photos. I thought that was amazing, too. How do you think the illustrations, particularly the ones on the spread with five small images and Mrs. Watson’s somber face, hold up to the original photos?

KT: If you haven’t seen the originals, they are fine. But if you know the originals, you will see that the photos, as Christoph shows them, are cut off. The Ella Watson photographs often show the surroundings of everyday life, with people in the background, often seen through doorways or reflected in mirrors. You might see framed photographs on bureaus that show earlier generations of her family. There’s such a depth to his photographs, such an exploration of life and character. He showed ordinary people as complex and multi-layered. That’s part of what makes Gordon Parks’s photographs art.

Christoph shows only a small portion of these photos, but he makes it look like he’s showing the whole thing. Essentially, he’s reducing them to snapshots. So while I don’t want Christoph’s version to be an exact replica of the Parks photographs, I do want them to come closer to communicating the feeling those photographs give us. He does accomplish this, at least, with the “American Gothic” photo of Ella Watson, standing in front of the American flag with her mop and broom. Perhaps that is because it was a more formal pose. But am I expecting too much?

Robin: I don’t know. There is the whole “let’s look at the book that was written (or illustrated), not the book we wished had been written” issue that comes up a lot on committees or while we review. I often have to remind myself that the book in front of us was the one that was written and that there are a lot of children who would know nothing about Gordon Parks if the book had not been created. So, there’s that. But, these photos do exist. They are famous photos, and lots of people know them and will know that they were not snapshots.

I love the feel of that page, even though I prefer the original photographs. That muted sepia and the regal faces of the women and children in the photos draw me in and make me want to know more. I like how the author’s words are stacked up on the right side and the photos fill the rest of the spread. The picture on the far left corner, where the woman does not wear her glasses, seems especially poignant with the baby, the shirtless boy, and the girl with her doll. Gordon Parks is off the page, doing his work: taking pictures.

So, it does matter. But, the whole book matters more to me. I love how the artist uses shadows and light to highlight what he wants the reader to see.

Which was your favorite spread, KT?

KT: I have two favorite spreads, and I think they both show the strength of this book overall. The first one appears early on, and it shows Parks at age fourteen, just after he moved to Minneapolis after his mother died. It shows him standing on a threshold holding a suitcase, looking like he’s ready to step into an uncertain future. On the facing page, it shows an array of three snapshots of Parks at different stages in his young adulthood: working as a busboy, a piano player, and a waiter. They are not only effective at showing the passage of time, they also foreshadow his future career as a photographer.

My second-favorite spread is of Parks walking home from work in Washington, DC, stopping to observe an old man sitting on the steps in a back alley, next to a little boy. This is a really good example of what you mentioned earlier, Robin, about Christoph’s use of light and shadow. The light in this picture falls on Parks on the edge of the left side of the page and on the Capitol building in the background. The man and boy are in shadow on the far right side of the spread, but there is a bit of light glowing on their shirts that draws your eye right to them. The same light casts a glow on the puddle in front of them. The viewer gets to feel the same thing Parks is experiencing in this scene: you almost missed these two people in the shadows, but once you look, you can see them, and you won’t forget them. It’s a very dramatic, yet quiet, scene.

Robin: That’s a good place to stop, KT, because the DC spread happens to be my favorite! It has a completely different feel from the other spreads and allows the reader to see how Parks is feeling in this new city. He is searching for his subject and, when he finds her, we are all better for it. Maybe the committee will fret over the drawings of photographs, and maybe they won’t. I never know how that will all go down. What do you all think the committee will appreciate in this new book from the pen of poet Carole Boston Weatherford and artist Jamey Christoph?

The post Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America appeared first on The Horn Book.

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This year marks the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the abolition of slavery in Texas and more generally the emancipation of African American slaves throughout the Confederate South.

Author Carole Boston Weatherford, author of Juneteenth Jamboree, wanted to celebrate this “emancipation celebration that is said to have begun on June 19, 1865, when Union Army soldiers arrived in Texas and informed slaves that they were free.”

According to Weatherford’s author note, the news of emancipation took two years, six months, and nineteen days to reach Texas after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Today, African Americans come together all around the country to celebrate Juneteenth with traditions from the early days, including parades, picnics, music, speeches, crafts, and African dance. In 1980, June 19 was made a legal holiday in Texas.

Think about Juneteenth as a companion holiday to the Fourth of July. While Independence Day celebrates freedom for our country, it is important to remember that not all people in America were free at this country’s birth. As Dr. Charles Taylor writes:

Juneteenth has come to symbolize for many African-Americans what the fourth of July symbolizes for all Americans — freedom. It serves as a historical milestone reminding Americans of the triumph of the human spirit over the cruelty of slavery. It honors those African-Americans ancestors who survived the inhumane institution of bondage, as well as demonstrating pride in the marvelous legacy of resistance and perseverance they left us.

150 years later (better late then never?), several representatives will push for legislation to make Juneteenth Independence Day a National Day of Observance in America. Currently, 43 states recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday.

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Learn more about Juneteenth Celebrations
12 Facts About the History of Black Independence Day
Purchase a copy of Juneteenth Jamboree, by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Yvonne Buchanan

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The Hispanic Division and the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress will honor Sonia Manzano for The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano (Scholastic) with the America’s Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Program on Monday 23 September in Washington DC.

First Book made headlines this past summer when they targeted purchases from two publishers to increase the availability of diverse books for young readers. After distributing books from HarperCollins and Lee and Low around the country, First book has announced the second phase of their program.

So what’s next for First Book? In June, the group unveiled at the Clinton Global Initiative America the planned next phase of the project, a “Commitment to Action” that includes outreach to 30,000 new schools and programs, special collections of diverse and multicultural titles, matching grants for educators, and an influential council of authors to help inspire new books and stories.

In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a growing dynamic in the demand for diversity in characters and authors in YA lit. Sure, it may be just another phase that the industry is experiencing, but I feel a real commitment from the individuals who are speaking up. They’re making statements that express concerns and beliefs they live with all the time. School Library Journal recently held a virtual conference “Embracing Diversity” which resulting in an article full of diversity resources.

The mosaic on Elephant Rag blog is a great place to find new books that reflect the world around us.

From authors Kelbion Noel and Zetta Elliott

Everyone deserves to see themselves in the pages. That’s what Diversity Reads is all about. Allowing youth the opportunity to enjoy speculative fiction featuring characters who look and deal, just like them. The non-profit is introducing a quarterly series, featuring multicultural authors of speculative fiction works, featuring main characters of color. Stay tuned for an event near you!

Their first event, “Black Magic” is in Toronto on 21 Sept.

Author Carole Boston Weatherford visited the Brown Bookshelf to discuss her book, Birmingham 1963 which pays homage to the four girls who lost their lives in a church bombing 50 years ago.

Lisa Yee is publishing on Paper Li.  STET, Good Books and Bad Dogs and Outer Space Stuff is brought to you daily.She’s much better at that than I am! I have a weekly publication but all I news I manage to collect comes from YALSA. I’m working on it!

Author Cynthia Leitich Smith will be presenting a Graphic Novel Writing workshop in Austin on 5 Oct. To prepare for this event, her blog recently featured an interview with her conducted by Samantha Clark, Austin SCBWI’s regional advisor, Why did she take her Tantalize series to graphic format?

The Tantalize series struck me as a great fit for graphic format. The books are genre benders–Gothic fantasies with strong elements of romance, mystery/suspense and some humor. They’re high action, rich in setting – an alternative Austin; Dallas; Chicago; small-town Michigan; Montpelier, Vermont – and offer diverse protagonists and visually arresting creatures (angels, vampires, werearmadillos).

Me? I’m working at the reference desk today! I’m looking forward to my first visit to Rose Hulman’s library this week to hear a speaker that’s part of the Muslim Journey bookshelf on which we’ve partnered. And, I’m reading reading reading for BFYA! With regards to BFYA, I’m really excited to have identified several ways to distribute the books I’ve been receiving. Of course, some have been going to the Indiana State University library! Advanced copies have been going to area teachers for their classroom libraries. Others will soon ship to the Boys and Girls Club of Burbank and in March I hope to distribute the remaining hundreds to school libraries here in Indiana. Thanks to a wonderful suggestion from Suzanne Walker, the Children’s Librarian for the state of Indiana, I’m planning a mini-grant program to send the books to the neediest libraries in the state. Hopefully, I’ve found a way to get it funded as well!

You?!! I hope you have a fantastic week and that your favorite team wins, unless they’re playing the Colts!

Filed under: Me Being Me Tagged: Carole Boston Weatherford, Cynthia Leitich Smith, diversity, First Book, Kelbion Noel, Lisa Yee, School LIbrary Journal, Zetta Elliott

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Carole Boston Weatherford is the vibrant author of some of the best children’s books  exploring African-American history.  I met Carole a year ago after she flew up from North Carolina to come visit our school library. As a snowstorm barreled in that day, we had to change our schedule at the last minute. Carole mastered the situation with grace and verve, adjusting each of her three sessions to relate perfectly to the age group. She recited poems to the youngest; she had children participating by chanting, jingling bells and tapping a triangle. They left the library joyous and inspired.

With the fourth and fifth-graders, she discussed Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins and presented a sensitive and nuanced look at Jim Crow as it still existed when she was a child in Baltimore. She showed a photograph of the park where she and her family were not allowed to go. The students were solemn and spellbound. Carole Boston Weatherford knows how to make history real to children.

One of my favorite read-alouds for Black History Month, is Freedom on the Menu (Dial, 2004), which works well with ages 6-10. Told from the point of view of eight-year-old Connie, the story takes readers to the Woolsworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. Connie and her mother often stop there for a soda after shopping downtown. Connie would like to sit down and have a banana split instead, but can’t; only whites may sit at the counter.  “All over town signs told Mama and me where we could and couldn’t go,” Connie lamented. Lagarrigue’s somber, impressionistic paintings show the hateful Jim Crow signs that warp the community. Changes are in the air, though, as the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. comes to town. Connie sees her older siblings become politically involved and join in the lunch counter sit-ins. As the protests spread through the South, laws change. Six months later, Connie gets to savor her banana split at the counter, and it tastes like so sweet — like freedom. The author’s note about the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins provides additional information that will help young people understand the Civil Rights movement. See Weatherford’s web site for lesson plans inspired by this exemplary picture book.

And don’t miss these treasures …

For older children:

The Beatitudes: From Slavery to Civil Rights. illus. by Tim Ladwig. Eerdmans, 2009. Ages 7-12. Anyone looking for a picture book to illustrate the role of faith in helping people survive and eventually overcome tragedy should take a look at this beautiful book. While the religious tone might be too heavy for some people, there is a place for a book that fosters faith in God and respect for all.

Birmingham, 1963. Wordsong, 2007.

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Ever wonder how deep the ocean is?Well, listen to this poem–one of many that make up Carole Boston Weatherford’s biography of Billie Holiday in verse–and you may discover a new way of thinking about the ocean and its depth:How Deep is the Ocean?Without the microphone,there would be no spotlight,no band backing mewith bluesy swing.My voice was small,barely an octave,but the mic enlarged my songs,

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The Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards are given annually to children’s books published in the preceding year that effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of the sexes and all races, as well as meeting conventional standards for excellence. On October 17th, winners of the 55th Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards received their awards, gave their acceptance speeches, and signed copies of their books at the United Nations Plaza in New York City.

PaperTigers congratulates:

WINNER - Books for Younger Children Category

The Escape of Oney Judge: Martha Washington’s Slave Finds Freedom, written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

WINNER - Books For Older Children Category

We are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin, written by Larry Dane Brimner

HONORS - Books for Younger Children Category

One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II, written and illustrated by Lita Judge

HONORS - Books for Older Children Category

Rickshaw Girl, written by Mitali Perkins with illustrations by Jamie Hogan

Honors - Books for Older Children Category

Elijah of Buxton, written by Christopher Paul Curtis

Honors - Books for Older Children Category

Birmingham, 1963, written by Carole Boston Weatherford

You can read Mitali’s acceptance speech and see photos of the event on her blog. Check out Larry Brimner’s Write. Write. Written! — A Writer’s Journal and Lita Judge’s blog as well!

In November our PaperTigers website will focus on the theme of “war and peace in children’s books,” featuring original essays by Lita Judge (One Thousand Tracings) and Jo Montie, former member of the Jane Addams Award committee.

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Did you watch Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for President last night? It was quite a moment in history to watch this young, African American Senator speak to an audience of some 80,000+ in Denver about his vision for the future. Of course we must make a poem connection! I think this excerpt from a lovely, long poem by Carole Boston Weatherford is perfect. It’s from her poetic homage to African American history, Remember the Bridge (2002), and is the end poem in this striking picture book collection illustrated with amazing iconic photographs and images.

I Am the Bridge (excerpt)
by Carole Boston Weatherford

The poem begins:

The bridge is men and women,
famous and unknown,
leaving paths of memories,
timeless stepping stones.
I follow in the shadows
of heroes without names
and keep the faith of elders
who lean on hickory canes.

And ends with:

The river to tomorrow
is as long as it is wide;
the bridge will get me over,
see me to the other side.
The past is the foundation,
the future the next span.
We’ll bridge the mighty river;
brothers, sisters, hand in hand.

Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2002. Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People. New York: Philomel, p. 50.

Each poem in this collection is a gem and I’ve highlighted two others in the past:
April 26, 2007 Marilyn Nelson’s birthday
*Pair Marilyn Nelson’s Carver: A Life In Poems (Front Street, 2001) with Carole Boston Weatherford’s Remember the Bridge (Philomel, 2002).
Dec. 1, 2006 Rosa Parks Day
*In honor of Rosa Parks Day, share “Rosa Parks” by Carole Boston Weatherford from Remember the Bridge (Philomel, 2002).

And check out Carole's Web site, too! You may remember that her book, Birmingham, 1963 won the Lee Bennett Hopkins award last year. She has a new 2008 book, Becoming Billie Holiday that I'll be reviewing shortly (I loved it!).

For more Poetry Friday fun, go to Charlotte's Library.

Picture credit: www.freshnessmag.com

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Erik P. Kraft Little, Brown 2007 This is the story of Tom Mayo, nickname Miracle Wimp. Sixteen years old, further down on the pecking order, working his way through the vicissitudes of social life in high school. Should have been in Computer Animation, wound up in wood shop. Where is this story going? Good question. Page by page there's a new vignettes, each no longer than a page or two,

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