October 2014 - Maya Gonzalez Blog

sweeping the skulls

falling falling fall

maya October 28, 2014 arte / life as arteLeave a comment

i have a lot on my mind these days. the fall is a perfect time to let go of old thinking that might be preventing my horns from growing strong and stripey!!! please feel free to share…FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinemail

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summer says!

perspective on puerto rican children's lit

maya October 28, 2014 children's books / life as arteOne Comment

amazing window into puerto rican children’s literature via summer edwards blog as she interviews scholar carmen milagros torres! check out these two power houses! please feel free to share…FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinemail

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gender free multicultural children’s book!

call me tree!!! (a note to my readers)

maya October 24, 2014 +lgbtqi2s+ / activism / children's books / gender / reflection press / teaching4 Comments

You may or may not notice something different about my new book, Call Me Tree. Nowhere in the story are boy/girl pronouns used. No ‘he’ or ‘she’ anywhere! I found it easy to write this way because that’s how I think of kids, as kids, not boy kids or girl …

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in front of the camera

the heart of it

maya October 17, 2014 children's books / life as arte / reflection pressLeave a comment

all my life i have not loved the camera. as a child i was always the one making the weird face in photographs. my mother loved to tell me ‘you’re not ugly.’ but there was something in her voice that made me only hear the word ‘ugly.’ my face felt highly …

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you have 8 minutes! GO!

kidquake san francisco

maya October 17, 2014 children's books / teaching2 Comments

i shared the stage today with 4 fabulous kidlit makers. 3 of whom were there to share their first book! i was so HAPPY for them! emily jiang and april chu are the author and artist respectively, of ‘summoning the phoenix: poems and prose about chinese musical instruments.’ emily is …

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michael brown reminded me of my dad

unfinished post, questions and the beginning of kidlitEquality

maya October 15, 2014 activism / children's books / life as arteLeave a comment

i found this post i wrote not long ago. it opens with my father. despite the fact that it isn’t finished i’m sharing it, as is. *august 9, 2014, 18 year old, unarmed michael brown was one of many young, black males gunned down by a white police officer I …

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the losses that makes us who we are

the power of choosing yourself when you've been disowned

maya October 14, 2014 life as arte6 Comments

i’m sitting here with my one year old, sky. i have a radically different life than i’ve ever had before. i’m happy. i’ve had a lot to learn through in life. one of the biggies was being disowned when i was 20 for being queer. it was my mother’s doing, …

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reclaiming my childhood literary influences

helen keller and the phantom toll booth

maya October 11, 2014 children's booksLeave a comment

i have been asked what children’s or YA book influenced me most for an article. as much as i love children’s books now, i cannot say that i have a lot of childhood experience with them. i remember reading helen keller’s life story, a big 2 inch fatty that i …

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i am kidlitcon

finding more people to play!!!

maya October 11, 2014 children's booksLeave a comment

this year’s theme for KidLitCon was: Blogging Diversity in Young Adult and Children’s Lit: What’s Next? it’s always soothing to be around folks with whom i can relax and even play a bit. play is serious business to me. play means a quality of curiosity, openness, courage and innocence. today …

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higher and higher

interview with r. gregory christie

maya October 9, 2014 arte / children's books / school of the free mind / teachingLeave a comment

i just got done having one of my favorite kinds of talks. one of those spans of time when i get to touch the creative force that flows through all of us and for a moment ride its beauty with another. it’s funny to call it a ‘talk’ because there …

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