images and stories about my work in the classroom, my curriculum and other work with students and educators.
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The graph below shows the children’s books that were missing by POC and Indigenous people in the children’s book industry over the last 10 years. That is if we were creating an equitable number of books per year to white Americans. It can be challenging to wrap our minds around …
I’m no stranger to the inequities that exist for People of Color, Indigenous and Queer authors and artists. I’ve been teaching and lecturing about it and its impact for 20 years in the children’s book industry. I speak from knowing and teach from understanding on a personal level. So why …
What I shared in Part One and Part Two of this series contributes to why I felt driven to stronger action with School of the Free Mind, my online school. The children’s book industry feels like a state of emergency for our communities and a powerful place to invest our …
A Book That Shows How Creativity Can Keep You Strong When You’re Courageously Being Yourself The Boy Who Drew Dresses/the Very True Tale of a Perfectly Gay Little Boy will be published by Reflection Press in 2017 This is a story about my friend Paul Gallo. Today he is a …
Two Books that Honor Mexican Heritage AND LGBTQ Experience Death In the Family and When We Love Someone We Sing to Them will be published in 2017 by Reflection Press. Written and illustrated by me, Death In the Family is not a Dia de los Muertos book with cultural references and …
When we look at CCBC’s statistics in the framework of how many books we need to make to stand in equity with white Americans, we begin to understand our real position. I estimate that the children’s book industry would have to increase its production level by 45% to accommodate an …
I just released Children’s Books as a Radical Act on Indiegogo to support my first 6 independently published children’s books. What makes these books radical? Why is it noteworthy that they’re independently published? Why children’s books of all things? Radical? Any time we center ourselves as POC, indigenous or queer …
Matthew and I are finally coming to terms with the fact that we LOVE to make fun, smart, creative materials for kids with a holistic, social justice frame. It’s just who we are together. It’s awesome. We have the best conversations about everything (like the Interrupting Chupacabra!) and we see …
Matthew and I opened Reflection Press at the end of 2009. We had NO IDEA what we were doing. We had heard tale and had seen a few things around the edges and then BOOM! we were doing it! We published Claiming Face and Gender Now in 2010. When we …
Saturday I am speaking at the Bay area SCBWI Oktoberfest. One of my talks is titled, Get Radical! Why Radical Thinkers Are Needed in the Children’s Book World. Apparently my reputation precedes me because I didn’t come up with the title. I simply and happily slid into place upon arrival. …
