The Our Stories Matter blog is honored to serve as an online host to celebrate a new and inspiring literacy collective, the Sowing Circle, a sisterhood of four Black children’s book creators. The collective consists of nationally known authors, Kelly Starling Lyons, Tameka Fryer Brown, Alice Faye Duncan, and Vanessa Brantley-Newton, who is also an artist and illustrator. Their mission, hopes, and how you can help the Sowing Circle “grow young minds” are expressed in the following interview.
How did the Sowing Circle come to be?
Tameka Fryer Brown: In early December, I reached out to three of my author sisters—Alice Faye Duncan, Vanessa Brantley-Newton, and Kelly Starling Lyons—about sharing each other’s January 14th picture book releases on our online platforms. I reached out to these three because I had always found them to be generous with their public support of my work, and I wanted to make sure I effectively returned the favor on our joint book birthday. Instead of discussing social media shout-outs, Alice responded by suggesting we partner with independent booksellers on marketing and selling our four titles as a bundle (ideally, at a discounted price) and that we encourage buyers to not only purchase said books for their loved ones, but also as donations for hospitals, schools, libraries, and other organizations working to get books into the hands of children who need them. The ideas began to flow at light speed, and before we knew it, we were the Sowing Circle—a picture book collective with a website, hashtags, a mission statement, and an incredibly inspired logo designed by Vanessa. It’s been a most serendipitous process.
What is the mission of Sowing Circle?
Alice Faye Duncan: We are Black Creatives sowing words and images in the hearts of children to reap a generation that is inquisitive, empathetic, and enlightened. This mission is achieved when adults purchase our books and share them with young readers in the home or donate our books to a library, school, or children’s hospital. As artists intentionally writing about the lives of Black children, our books are necessary like daily nourishment. We write to feed the soul.
Why should people add your new book to school, home, and library collections?
Alice: Just Like a Mama celebrates children who are “chosen” and cherished by adoptive mothers, foster guardians, and “kinfolk,” like grandmothers, big sisters, and aunts. I call my book, “A Celebration of the Unacknowledged Auntie.” So often aunts, like grandmothers, step up and fill in for biological mothers. Just Like a Mama is intentional to affirm children living without their biological parents. And at the same time, it inspires empathy and understanding in the hearts of young readers who do not share this experience.
Tameka: The proportion of children’s books featuring characters full of Black Joy (versus those whose main characters are primarily struggling against and overcoming racial oppression) needs to drastically increase. I define Black Joy as the public and unapologetic expression of happiness, humor, pride, or love by, for, and among Black people. Black Joy is something that children—all children—need to see much more often in the titles they read. Publishers will publish more Black Joy books for children only if buyers buy more Black Joy books for children.
Brown Baby Lullaby is unmitigated Black Joy. Thanks to AG Ford, it’s also a beautifully illustrated lullaby and a bedtime story, filled with loving affirmations and common experiences relatable to anyone who has raised or cared for a young child.
Vanessa Brantley-Newton: My book, Just Like Me, should be added to both home and school libraries because it is full of diversity which children need to see. They also need to understand that they are not the only ones going through life. They are not the only ones who don’t have a dad. They are not the only ones who have moved somewhere and gone to a different school. They are not the only ones who are struggling to make friends. These poems speak to both boys and girls and will help teach children how to love themselves.
Kelly Starling Lyons: Dream Builder celebrates Philip Freelon, a Black architect who used his gifts to help our world gleam. He’s the kind of hero kids don’t see enough in children’s literature. Phil’s early love of drawing and building models and deep connection to Black history and legacy as he came of age will inspire children to explore how they can be dreamers and builders too. The pinnacle of his career was being the architect of record for the National Museum of African American History & Culture. His story shows there are no limits to what we can achieve.
What do you hope your body of work sows in the world?
Alice: I want my books to bolster young readers with knowledge, joy, and a hearty love for sounds/images that make words potent like music. I want my books to pull on a child’s emotional intelligence. I also want my books to please a child’s ear. As a writer and librarian—these two standards are my eternal search. Please visit my website for more information about my work at www.alicefayeduncan.com.
Tameka: I hope my books sow seeds of self-love, pride, connectivity, and inclusion. The younger these seeds are sown in the hearts of children, the better our chance of reaping a generation that is kinder, more compassionate, and less destructive and racially biased. Based on our national and global trajectory, I don’t think there could be a more important yield for our world. Learn more about my books at www.tamekafryerbrown.com.
Vanessa: I hope that this book fosters kindness and community within the school and home. I hope that it will sow seeds that will help children develop their self-esteem. I want them to like the fact that they are not like everyone else, but also enjoy that they do have so many things in common with each other. What makes us different is really what makes us the same is my message. Please visit my website to learn more about my work at http://oohlaladesignstudio.blogspot.com/.
Kelly: Last year marked my 15th anniversary as a children’s book author. Too often, Black children are unsung. Their dreams, adventures, families, and history matter. I hope my books show them that. For all kids, I want to sow seeds of inspiration and empowerment. Books help young readers build bridges, grow roots, and sprout wings. From easy readers to picture books and chapter books, my mission is to tell stories that center new heroes, celebrate family and friendship, and help kids feel cultural pride and connect to each other. You can learn more about my work at www.kellystarlinglyons.com.
What a wonderful collaboration of Black creatives! What are your thoughts on the Sowing Circle? Leave a comment below.
The Sowing Circle’s picture books are available on January 14, 2020, go here to purchase a “Bundle of Joy” to keep or donate!
Just Like Me | Vanessa Brantley-Newton | Knopf BYR
Brown Baby Lullaby | Tameka Fryer Brown | A.G. Ford | Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR
Just Like a Mama | Alice Faye Duncan | Charnelle Pinkney Barlow | Denene Millner/S&S BYR
Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon | Kelly Starling Lyons | Laura Freeman | Lee & Low Books
