What’s Your Story?: KP Carter: The Literacy Whisperer

The summer of 2001, I had bunion surgery. That was the summer I was forced to slow down long enough to bring the summer adventures of Lizzie B. Hayes, a feisty, precocious, accident-prone 8-year-old girl, to life. The first book in the middle-grade chapter book series, Summertime with Lizzie B. Hayes, is about Lizzie, three generations of her colorful family, and life during the 1960s.

The first 20 years of my 35-year career was spent as an elementary school teacher. Along the way, I became the proud mother of two sons. I knew how important it was to instill the love of literacy and develop strong readers who could think critically. Growing up, I always loved to read and write, and sharing that love was extremely important to me. But there were very few books that portrayed images that my sons could identify with. To say that there was a dearth of books featuring normal, happy, African American boys is an understatement. But in the words of our dear sister Toni Morrison, “If there’s a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I was encouraged to write books that my sons, as well as my students, would want to read. 

The decision to independently publish grew from my interactions with well-known authors.  Throughout my years in the classroom, I planned school-wide career awareness programs. The town I lived in was home to several authors. They were always willing to participate. Listening to them share the life of an author and the amount of dedication and determination it took to become published was both exciting and frightening. One year, a successful children’s book author brought a binder filled with rejection letters she had received in her early career. Her goal was to help children understand the importance of editing and revision. I decided that I would learn as much as I could about self-publishing for my first children’s book.