Supporting Our Community Multi-Book Giveaway
Arree and I want to make sure we're supporting our community at this time, so we're holding a free Town Hall Meeting on Race Relations tomorrow morning (June 2) at 9:00, Pacific Time. Anyone can come. This will be a discussion where we listen to figure out how we can better support you. If you want to be part of the conversation tomorrow, you'll need to register here.
We also both feel like we can support our community by giving right now.
Arree wrote a picture book that addresses racism. In this Facebook post, he gives you a link to download a PDF of MIXED with activities to help you have discussions about race with your children or children you teach.
There were requests from people who wanted a video of Arree reading his story for their children, so we're sharing the following YouTube video as well.
I'm giving away five books by authors and illustrators of color. I think that one of the most important ways that we can lift and support our brothers and sisters of color is to purchase, review, and talk about the great work they're already doing.
The first book I'm giving away (shown at the top of this post) might be on back order. If so, you'll need to be patient with the bookseller I order it from. I'm not paying $50 on Amazon because you know the author isn't seeing any of that mark up.
Ijeoma Oluo wrote SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE to help grown ups have better conversations about race because nobody wins an argument about it. And to get the change that we need in our country, we need to have better conversations. This book made enough of a difference that white supremacists have been targeting Ijeoma, including a fake call to 911 that sent a SWAT team to her home when her son was home alone.
My second selection is Vanessa Brantley-Newton's latest picture book, JUST LIKE ME. We had so many entries in my last giveaway for this book, and I could only pick one.
My third selection is A RIDE TO REMEMBER, an autobiographical account from Storyteller Academy student Sharon Langley, illustrated by Floyd Cooper.
Nest, I'm giving away THE OLDEST STUDENT: HOW MARY WALKER LEARNED TO READ, by Storyteller Academy student Rita Lorraine Hubbard and Oge Mora.
My fifth selection is a picture book that celebrates children with brown skin, BROWN SUGAR BABE, by Storyteller Academy student Charlotte Watson Sherman and Akem.
Book Giveaway Details
While everyone gets to enjoy Arree's MIXED, you may only enter to win one of the five books I'm giving away. To enter, just leave a comment on this post that lets me know which book you'd like to win. For additional entries, you can share the post on social media and post a link to where you’ve shared in the comments (preferably as a comment to your original comment so that all of your entries are grouped together).
I’ll close the contest at midnight, Pacific Time, on June 8. Thanks for reading and sharing!
And if you have suggestions for us on how we can better lift and support you, please let us know in the comments.
Blog Contributors
Myrna Foster writes and edits content for Storyteller Academy and the WriteRiders Newsletter for SCBWI Nevada. She has spent a lot of time teaching and coaching children, including five years as a preschool teacher. She's also worked as a journalist, and Highlights High Five has published six of her poems.
Arree Chung is an author/illustrator and the founder of Storyteller Academy. Arree’s Ninja! series has received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal. Kirkus also gave a starred review to Mixed, which recently won the FCGB award.
Today Arree lives a creative life, making stories for children. Arree spends most of his time making picture books, writing middle grade novels, and sharing his love for art, design, and storytelling with kids and dreamers everywhere.