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During my time in DC for the Children’s Africana Book Award I was honored with an invitation to speak to the Capitol City Public Charter School fourth graders about Africa is My Home by An Open Book Foundation, a fabulous organization that describes themselves thus:

Founded by Dara La Porte and Heidi Powell, An Open Book Children’s Literacy Foundation was created to promote literacy among disadvantaged children and teens in the greater Washington, D.C. area by giving schools and students book and access to authors and illustrators. We excite children and teachers about reading and send every child home with a signed book.

I was so impressed and moved by the experience. Being a fourth grade teacher myself, it was delightful to speak about my book to a different group and population from my own students.  As I wrote in my earlier post about the weekend:

It was a really wonderful experience. The children were eager, interested, and had wonderful questions. I was most moved by two children from El Salvador. I sign my books “Never forget your home” and one of these two children spoke with tremendous excitement of returning soon to her home of El Salvador while the other came around to tell me privately that he would not be returning to his home of El Salvador because “bad things had happened there.” I told him that his home should be wherever he felt safe and happy. It was an important reminder to me — someone who has, for different reasons, no childhood place to call home —  that home is not necessarily where you originated.

I enjoyed too meeting and working with Janet Zwick of An Open Book Foundation who guided the children to read and discuss the book during my visit and generally (along with another wonderful person from the foundation and the school’s librarian) saw that the whole event went off without a hitch. (Even the fire drill didn’t cause a problem, believe it or not!) . Afterwards Janet treated me to a tasty pho lunch with some really wonderful conversation. Here are photos Janet took off the event. My great thanks to everyone involved in making this a special event for me. (The photos are courtesy of An Open Book Foundation.)

Monica Edinger, author of “Africa is My Home, A Child of the Amistad,” is a former Peace Corps volunteer who began writing children’s books during Sierra Leone’s Civil War. “Sierra Leone and its people were being represented in the media in this really horrendous way,” Edinger said.

She felt it was important to share stories that showed there was more to Sierra Leone than conflict. “Real stories, about real people, make a big difference. But unfortunately that isn’t the standard narrative in children’s books.”

From this article celebrating the Children’s Africana Book Awards.

I was so honored by the celebrations around this year’s Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA). These began with a Meet and Greet dinner at the venerable Bus Boys and Poets (a place I’d always wanted to see) where I met so many wonderful people, among them Ifeoma Onyefulu, a former winner of the award whose books I’ve long admired.

The following day I spoke to a couple of 4th grade classes at the fabulous Capital City Public Charter School under the auspices of An Open Book Foundation. Here’s the description of what they do on their website:

Founded by Dara La Porte and Heidi Powell, An Open Book Children’s Literacy Foundation was created to promote literacy among disadvantaged children and teens in the greater Washington, D.C. area by giving schools and students book and access to authors and illustrators. We excite children and teachers about reading and send every child home with a signed book.

It was a really wonderful experience. The children were eager, interested, and had wonderful questions. I was most moved by two children from El Salvador. I sign my books “Never forget your home” and one of these two children spoke with tremendous excitement of returning soon to her home of El Salvador while the other came around to tell me privately that he would not be returning to his home of El Salvador because “bad things had happened there.” I told him that his home should be wherever he felt safe and happy. It was an important reminder to me — someone who has, for different reasons, no childhood place to call home —  that home is not necessarily where you originated.

Here are the books beautifully displayed before they were given out to the children.

Saturday morning I wandered the Mall for a bit, having not done so in many years. I wanted most of all to see the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

And then there was the actual Children’s Africana Book Award Festival at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. After being welcomed by the Curator of Education, Deborah Stokes, we were entertained by the marvelous dance and singing troupe, the Taratibu Youth Association. Harriet McGuire spoke about the Africa Book Project, a terrific initiative to get the award winning CABA books into the hands of African children. The amazing Brenda Randolph, president of Africa Access (which gives the award and who organized everything) spoke and board member Linda White gave the Read Africa Partner Awards.

Then we were given our awards. This was incredibly moving. Each book was beautifully introduced along with the creators who were there for the ceremony. (Not all of us were able to make it for one reason or another.) You can read more about all the winning books here. We were each given a beautiful certificate and then there was a lovely ceremony when we were draped with a kente-like cloth that had been woven by  the Ghanaian master weaver, Chapuchi Ahiagble.

Here I am afterwards with fellow winners Agbotadua Togbi Kumassah, Anna Cottrell (translator and reteller of Once Upon a Time in Ghana: Traditional Stories Retold in English illustrated by Kwabena Poku ),  and A. G. Ford (illustrator of Desmond and the Very Mean Word written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams). Mubina Hassanali Kirmani (author of Bundle of Secrets, Savita Returns Home, illustrated by Tony Siema) was also there. There were many documenting all the events with photos, video, and interviews and when they are done and posted I will provide links.

My great thanks to all who made this such a special experience for me, especially the members of the CABA Awards Committee: Dr. Meena Khorana, Dr. Patricia Kuntz, Dr. Lesego Malepe, Dr. John Metlzer, Ms. Brenda Randolph, Dr. Anne Waliaula, and Dr. Vivian Yenika-Agbaw.

On Saturday November 8, 2014, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art (NMAA) in Washington, DC will host the 22nd annual Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA).  CABA was created by Africa Access and the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association to honor authors and illustrators who have produced exceptional books on Africa for young people.

Children’s Africana Book Awards Festival
Join Us!   11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Saturday November 8, 2014
Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art
950 Independence Avenue, Southwest, Washington, DC 20560
Free and Open to the Public   Registration is Requested

Hope to see some of you there!

African drums got the students’ attention in a skit portraying the 9-yearold character Magulu from the book, “Africa is My Home: A Child of the Amistad,” written by Monica Edinger and illustrated by Robert Byrd. The character spoke to the children about her experience being captured by slave traders and placed on the ship Amistad, where slaves took control of the ship in a mutiny.

“(This is a) dramatic tale of how slaves revolted and took over the boat and were later captured,” the Magulu character narrated. “During my time in America, I never forgot about my home.”

This is so awesome! From this “Loving Literacy” news article.

The Children’s Africana Book Awards will be celebrated with a festival at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art on Saturday, November 8, 2014.  You can find out more about it as well as register (it is free) here.

The lovely people at Africa Access (who administer the award) created the following for those specifically interested in Sierra Leone and, thus, my book.  I’m pretty excited!

Did you know children were on the Amistad?  Magulu (Sarah Margru Kinson) About 1830, a girl named Magulu was born in     what is now Sierra Leone.   At age 9 she was taken captive aboard the Amistad with fifty-two other Africans. Read about her in Africa is My Home, A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger. Meet the author, Monica Edinger at the Children’s Africana Book Awards Festival

Free and Open to the Public   Registration Requested

While Ebola seems to be off the  New York Times front page, the articles are still there.  “If They Survive in the Ebola Ward, They Work On” features some heroic people in and around Kenema, an area I knew when I lived in Sierra Leone. (For a different sort of context, this is center Mende country where the Amistad captives of Africa is My Home were from.)

I’ve long known of the fantastic resource Teachingbook,net, a subscription service full of original material about young people’s books and their creators. And now I’m so excited to be there too along with Africa is My Home!  Go here to listen to me introduce the book, provide some information about how it came into being, and read some of it. And if you are really curious you can also go here to listen to me say my name and tell a little story about it.

I’m always on the look-out for new information and new takes on the Amistad story. One recent one is Marcus Rediker’s The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom in which the focus and viewpoint is on  the captives. And now there is a  film based on the book coming from filmmaker Tony Buba. The following description and preview has me very intrigued.

This film, made by Tony Buba, is based on Marcus Rediker’s book about the famous slave revolt of 1839, The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom (Penguin, 2012) and is about a trip made by historians and a film crew to Sierra Leone in May 2013. All of the Amistad rebels were from southern and eastern Sierra Leone, so the filmmakers went to their villages of origin to interview elders about surviving local memory of the case. They also searched for the long lost ruins of Lomboko, the slave trading factory where the Amistad Africans were loaded onto a slave ship bound for the New World. This hour-long documentary chronicles a quest for a lost history from below.

I’m always on the look-out for new information and new takes on the Amistad story. One recent one is Marcus Rediker’s The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom in which the focus and viewpoint is on  the captives. And now there is a  film based on the book coming from filmmaker Tony Buba. The following description and preview has me very intrigued.

This film, made by Tony Buba, is based on Marcus Rediker’s book about the famous slave revolt of 1839, The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom (Penguin, 2012) and is about a trip made by historians and a film crew to Sierra Leone in May 2013. All of the Amistad rebels were from southern and eastern Sierra Leone, so the filmmakers went to their villages of origin to interview elders about surviving local memory of the case. They also searched for the long lost ruins of Lomboko, the slave trading factory where the Amistad Africans were loaded onto a slave ship bound for the New World. This hour-long documentary chronicles a quest for a lost history from below.

I had fun doing an interview with Deborah Kalb and it is now on her blog here.

Yesterday I was over the moon after learning that Africa is My Home had been honored with a 2014 Children’s Africana Book Award (also know as CABA). I have long been familiar with these awards and have often discovered new books through them. So to be honored with one myself is amazing.

Here’s more about them:

In 1991, Africa Access in collaboration with the Outreach Council* of the African Studies Association created the Children’s Africana Book Awards  with three major objectives (1) to encourage the publication of children’s and young adult books that contribute to a better understanding of African societies and issues, (2) to recognize literary excellence, and (3) to acknowledge the research achievements of outstanding authors and illustrators. The first CABA was presented in 1992. Today over seventy-four titles have been recognized and more than 100 authors and illustrators are members of our Winners Circle. Each winning title has been vetted by our awards jury which is composed of African Studies and Children’s Literature scholars.

There will be an award ceremony on Saturday, November 8, 2014 the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC. From this cool slideshow of last year’s celebrations, I’m expecting that it and the other related activities are going to be wonderful.

My great thanks to the committee for honoring Africa is My Home this way.

Two friends who also served in Sierra Leone in the Peace Corps recently returned for a visit bringing along several copies of Africa is My Home as gifts. But what a gift they gave me by sending this photo of Peggy reading it to the people of Kenema Blango. I get weepy every time I look at it.

Recently, Debbie Glad at Smart Books for Smart Kids interviewed Robert Byrd and me about Africa is My Home and you can now read it here. I enjoyed doing it immensely. Thanks, Debbie.

Yesterday evening, a publishing friend and I were just heading out of her office into a very rainy New York City for a quiet pre-Thanksgiving dinner when I received an email letting me know that Africa is My Home is a New York Times Notable Children’s Book of 2013. It was great to get the news with her as she knows just how big deal it is.  I’m still floating on air amazed that this happened and to be among those other distinguished book creators.  Just…well…wow….

Wow.  It was amazing to be at NCTE as a children’s book author.  As I wrote in my previous post I’ve been a member of the organization and attending conventions (at one time there was a second spring conference as well) for many years, but always as an educator.  So this was a very special NCTE for me.

First of all, on Thursday, I visited my publisher, Candlewick Press. They are housed in a beautiful building and it was so kind for the executive director of school and library marketing, Sharon Hancock, to take the time to show me around.  It was wonderful to finally meet my book’s fantastic designer, Heather McGee, and terrific copyeditor, Hannah Mahoney.  A special thrill was reading to Candlewick staff in the kitchen, a tradition for authors who visit.  All in all, a wonderful experience.

The historical fiction session with M. T. Anderson, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Gene Yang chaired by Teri Lesesne was great and I hope that  there are opportunities for further explorations about the nuances of writing about the past for young people. In a future post, I plan to go into more detail about the session and what we discussed.

I did a book signing and Candlewick had my book on display with one of those cool star bookmarks (for the one it got from SLJ)!

After a family dinner with just Candlewick folk, including Gareth Hinds and Burleigh Muten I stayed up way past my bedtime at the Nerdy Book Club gathering. As my friends know I’m very much an early-to-bed-early-to-rise sort of gal and not much for crowds, but I ended up having a fantastic time at this event.  I mainly went to celebrate my book’s publication with Jenni Holm who had been there way back when I was just beginning to work on it and who was very supportive as I tried to figure out just how to tell the story.  So, thanks for that, Jenni, and the champagne! (And, thanks also to Louise Borden who took this photo.) But I also met many other friends and made new ones too. It was a great event so thanks, Nerdy Book Club for setting it up.

Saturday morning I switched hats to my critic/educator one and attended the ALAN Breakfast as a guest of Random House. Jennifer Burhle’s tribute to Judy Blume was so moving as was Judy Blume’s acceptance of her award.  And then there was the one and only Walter Dean Myers who spoke passionately about economic diversity.

Arguably the best speaker I heard at the convention was Temple Grandin. Certainly she was the most unique, funny, blunt, and practical.  A few of my tweets:

• “Too much emphasis on deficit, not enough on creativity.” Temple Grandin #NCTE13
• “Need different kinds of minds.” Temple Grandin #ncte13
• “Need to touch in order to learn.” Temple Grandin #ncte2013
• Keeps saying they’ve got to put hands-on stuff back. Temple is awesome.#ncte13
• She wants to do a show called “Undercover Legislature.” Fox, you listening? Temple Grandin #ncte13

Then I attended the Books for Children luncheon as an author. Among other things, that meant sitting at a table with my books and attendees and talking to them about my book. I also was thrilled to see my old friend Leda Shubert receive the Orbis Pictus Award for her book Monsieur Marceau.  Here’s her editor (another old friend of mine) Neal Porter with a book that is not hers.

The keynote speaker was Steve Jenkins who was outstanding. I’ve always admired his books, but he is a terrific speaker too. I especially enjoyed his dry deadpan wit.  One example: “I must say I find the creatures much easier to work with when they are stuffed.”

That evening I met Jen and Lisa of the excellent blog, Reads for Keeps, for drinks and we stopped by the Stenhouse party so I could see the wonderful editors of my two books on teaching history,  Philippa Stanton and Bill Varner. It was a special treat to then run into some several other old friends as well. I then went off to a dinner as a Candlewick author which was very, very cool indeed. It was at the Forum restaurant which had been the site of last year’s Boston Marathon bombing and that was moving too. My table mates and I had a splendid time talking books — pretty much exclusively adult ones for a change.  

All in all it was a glorious few days! Thank you, Candlewick for my beautiful book and for a wonderful conference.

Yesterday I had a splendid time speaking and signing at an event organized by the Farmington Historical Society and the First Church. It was held in the church’s Amistad Hall and the attendees were so well-informed about the Amistad affair and Sierra Leone that it was very special experience indeed. My great thanks to all those who organized this so beautifully.

Speaking with an attendee who was originally from Sierra Leone.

They brought a Mende Bunde Mask that looks very similar to the one on the cover of the book and a footwarmer that might have been used in the church when Margru was there.

Before and after the event my friend and I revisited some of the Amistad sights we’d seen during our previous research visit so many years ago and finally found the grave of Fone, one of the Amistad captives who died during their time in Farmington. 

So cool to see Africa is My Home in an Africa Bookshelf in this week’s  NYTBR complete with slide show.  Even cooler to be there along with the latest Anna Hibiscus and some other very beautiful books.

After the Amistad captives won their case and were freed, they had a long wait until sufficient funds were raised for a ship to take them back to Africa. Happily, there were people in Farmington, CT, who took them in.  As part of my research for Africa is My Home I visited Farmington and I’m thrilled to be returning to speak and sign books this Sunday.  The details are all here.

Thanks to everyone at the Bankstreet Bookstore, especially manager Andy Laties, and to all who came to yesterday’s event. It was really, really  lovely to see my family, colleagues, old friends, and students with their families.  It was surprisingly daunting to be on the author-side of things, but everyone was so positive and interested that I was able to relax, read, answer questions, and sign. (If you weren’t able to make it you can still order signed copies from the bookstore.)

Now that the book is out in the world it is really exciting to see mentions, features, and blog reviews. Here are some I came across recently:

•  The University of Arizona’s World of Words site is featuring the book here.
• Debbie Ridpath Ohi wrote this lovely review in which  she wishes the book had been around when she was a kid. Me too, Debbie!
• In Nancy Bo Flood’s kind review she writes with great appreciation of my work and that of illustrator Robert Byrd.
• Kendal Rautzhan featured the book in her round-up of books on compassion.

And finally, for those in New York City, Robert Byrd’s glorious final spread from the book is in this year’s Original Art Exhibit at the Society of Illustrators — go see it!

I will be doing my first event for Africa is My Home this coming Sunday, October 10th, at 2:30,  at the Bank Street Book Store.  I’ve been to so many of these over the year, but never as the featured author! Maybe I’ll see some of you there?

Today’s the publication day for Africa is My Home. Hurray!  And for those wanting to know more about it (including more primary source images, extensive bibliographies, source notes, teaching suggestions, reviews, and so forth) check out my page for the book.

My babe’s coming-of-age* publication date of October 8th is getting close and so reviews are starting to appear. Below are links to the ones I’ve come across so far. It is fascinating and a bit nerve-wracking to be on this side of things for a change.

Starred Review in School Library Journal
Betsy Bird on Fuse#8
Publishers Weekly
Kirkus (Full review is up at B&N)
Teri Lesesne

*Since I began work on this in 2000 coming-of-age seems more appropriate than birthday.

Lastly, we got a special treat: one of our own, Monica Edinger, Dalton School teacher and blogger atEducating Alice, spoke about her new book, Africa Is My Home. Telling the little-known story of the real-life children aboard Amistad, this labor of love was thirteen years in the making for Edinger. She uses primary source materials and archival images to drive the story home; accompanied by illustrations from Robert Byrd, this is an emotional and rich book. The room was so supportive of Edinger, and we all can’t wait for this one to come out in October.

From Laura Lutz’s SLJ piece on last week’s Candlewick Fall Preview.

Africa is My Home isn’t out till October, but marketing and publicity for it revved up yesterday with Candlewick featuring it at their NYC fall preview and having me do a signing of advanced copies at BEA.

I’ve been going to various publisher previews for years, but not as a featured author!  It was strange and wonderful.  They saved Africa for last and my editor Sarah Ketchersid did a wonderful job presenting it. After that I spoke a bit, several attendees who have been part of my long journey to publication did too and there was applause and a few tears, not all of them mine. I will say again, it has been a very long road to get here and I will never be able to thank enough all those who were there along the way.

Sarah and I then zipped over to the Javits Center. She went to meetings and I went to wander the exhibits until it was time for my signing. I’d been to BEA a few years ago, but it sure has changed since then in that most of the bigger publishers no longer have any books on display. That was mighty strange, but I’m not a bookseller so perhaps this works better for them and the convention is for them, after all, not for the likes of me. I happily spent time at some smaller publishers who DID have physical books on hand.

And then it was time for my signing. I arrived at Candlewick’s booth to discover this big poster:

They asked me what sort of pen I wanted to sign with and provided me with an assortment to choose from. Then the line began to form and I began to sign. And sign. And sign. I was incredibly touched by those I knew who came, but the majority were people I didn’t know at all. And many of them said such kind things about the book and the idea of the book. I so didn’t expect many to come to this signing so I was overwhelmed and very, very happy! (Candlewick did a great little Vine video of the signing you can view here as I can’t seem to embed it for some quirky wordpress-only-knows reason.)

Thank you, Candlewick, for my day as queen!