JambaLAya Kidlit Conference 2018

  For the second year in a row, the Louisiana/Mississippi chapter of SCBWI knocked it outta the park! This is one of the best kidlit conferences I’ve attended, and I’ve been to a few. I tend to prefer regional conferences for the intimacy and depth of focus, not to mention the community building, and this one delivered.…Continue reading JambaLAya Kidlit Conference 2018

Book review: Martin Luther King, The Peaceful Warrior

I am excited to once again participate in Multicultural Children’s Book Day! This year, I was delighted to receive Ed Clayton’s classic Martin Luther King, The Peaceful Warrior, updated with new illustrations by Donald Bermudez and a foreword by Xernona Clayton, published by Candlewick Press. See below for more info about tonight’s Twitter party; FREE BOOKS for teachers; FREE…Continue reading Book review: Martin Luther King, The Peaceful Warrior

Book review: The Fifth Season

Mind. Blown. I finished the first book in N.K. Jemison’s Hugo-award-winning The Broken Earth trilogy, The Fifth Season, and I’m reeling from its sheer awesomeness. This speculative fiction novel for adults encompasses a vast, immersive, world that resonates with our own culture, particularly the way we treat anyone we deem “other.” The plot is continually…Continue reading Book review: The Fifth Season

Book review: Hurricane Boy and Ninth Ward

As my heart breaks watching coverage of Hurricane Harvey pummeling Texas–and I hold my breath that its impact here in New Orleans is minimal–I can’t help but remember that today is the 12-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It’s a tense time of year for New Orleanians, especially those transplanted to places affected by the current…Continue reading Book review: Hurricane Boy and Ninth Ward

Book review: Sisters of the Revolution

Sometimes I forget how fulfilling it can be to read explicitly feminist writing. So I have been enjoying the heck out of Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer. Speculative fiction is a catch-all phrase for science fiction, fantasy, and other harder-to-classify writing with a fabulist “what-if” slant.…Continue reading Book review: Sisters of the Revolution