Missing In Action

Hello Good Peoples!! Yeah, I know I haven't been really here blogging

like I said I would be. UGH!! I am one person and there is so much work on my desk and so many school visits and conferences that it is almost impossible to keep up! I need an assistant and I am getting one very soon, but until thenI have to do this stuff myself. I actually miss interacting with my audience.

Okay, so I am working on a new picture book called,"Nesting Dolls"

with Knopf Random House and Peguin Books. It is written and illustrated by me and so there is a whole lotta work that is going on right now in my office and then traveling as well. I am so very excited about this book. It is about a little girl who just happens to be darker than her big sister, parents and grandparents and she is not liking it at all. She sees that everyone is lighter and she views herself as wrong, different and not beautiful.

When she comes into her grandmother's art studio and sees a set of nesting dolls being painted and one that is painted a deeper shade of brown she know that it is the smallest one and that it must represent her and begins to cover it with a lighter color and grandma walks in to find her changing the color and enlightenment comes with lots of love and care and celebration. I don't want to tell you everything, but let's just say,

this little one finds her self worth is more than skin deep.

I can't wait to share it with you all. I hear stories like this from not only African Americans, but also from Asians, Hispanics , Latinos, and even East Indians. So many children have shared these stories with me about their skin and sometimes family members, friends, and others can say such hurtful things to them. " You look cute for such a dark child." This has been said to me as a child as well and it hurts the soul and spirit and makes us feel like we are less than acceptable or beautiful and that is very hurtful. Like deep brown is wrong or something and it's not. It's beautiful and should be celebrated in all cultures. I want them to know that I see them. That they are valuable and precious indeed.

I do apologize for not posting on a regular. Working as a full time Illustrator, writer and teacher is not easy at all. I want to post more and hopefully I will get a chance to do so. Until then, stay safe and creative! Blessings!