Darne'sha
Darne’sha
Darne'sha was 15 when she became a published author. She likes writing and she loves music. She graduated from Ballou High School in 2017. She is currently working in a school and in the future, she plans on becoming a youth counselor.
“Publishing my book made me more outspoken, it really open me up on that and now I am not afraid to say what I feel or how I am feeling at any given moment. It played a really big part of my life.”
BOOKS BY DARNE'SHA
“Poignant and powerful . . . the students write with fresh power about loss, about the failures of the system around them, and how to decide when, how and where they should speak out.” —Publishers Weekly
“Our young people are asking that we sit with them, that we listen to them, and that we see their lives in all of their complexity. The stories in What It Cost Us must be read. They must be remembered." —Clint Smith, author of How the Word is Passed: Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“Authentic and sincere.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A momentous account of a time we must remember.” —Wendy Wan-Long Shang, author of The Secret Battle of Evan Pao
Foreword by Candice Iloh
In this collaborative novel, ten diverse young writers from Washington, DC recreate the historic year 2020 from their perspectives, through fictional stories inspired by their own lived experiences. Told chronologically from the onset of the pandemic to the insurrection of January 6th, their stories of change and resilience are accompanied by maps, social media, original artwork, and real-life headlines to create an immersive experience of an unprecedented coming of age.
You’ll meet Faiza, a Muslim high school student, who struggles to celebrate Ramadan during the worst of the COVID-19 shutdowns. You’ll protest with Roman, the only Black student in his class, whose relationships are challenged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. You’ll face the fraught 2020 election with Dennis, a young Nigerian immigrant, as he questions a democracy that seems to count him out.
By examining the shards of this shattered year, these authors explore “what it cost us” through stories that both acknowledge loss and celebrate what got us through.
ISBN: 978-1-950807-55-0
Age: 12+
Lexile: 780L
Page Count: 329
Published: Spring 2023
by Karta, Darne'sha, and Zorita of Reach Incorporated
Story: Meet Princess McKenzie as she shows you around her castle, the Fort Hill Homeless Shelter. McKenzie shows the power of imagination in overcoming difficult circumstances. Missing her mom, Princess McKenzie leaves the shelter in search of the queen and finds something far more important.
Story Behind the Story: In this bold and imaginative story, these teen authors address a challenge they know some of their readers know personally, but that we rarely see represented in children's literature: living in a homeless shelter. They wanted to portray the shelter as a safe and helpful place where families can rebuild and get the support they need, while also exploring the complex relationship issues that can be caused by financial struggle.
ISBN: 978-0692300763
Age: 4-9
Lexile: 550L
Page Count: 36
Published: Fall 2014
2015 INDIEFAB Finalist: YA Nonfiction Book of the Year
2015 INDIEFAB Finalist: Child Author Book of the Year
Proceeds from book sales go to a Ballou HS scholarship fund and to empower new authors.
Through the course of a historic year of civil unrest and the emergence of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement, thirty teen writers from Frank W. Ballou High School in Washington, DC came together to take part in this national conversation about race, inequality, violence, and justice. Through their powerful, personal stories these writers intend to Change the Narrative about youth of color. We are not thugs, they say. We are not victims. We are big sisters and sports stars, academic strivers and everyday heroes. We speak out for justice. We dream big dreams. These writers want more for themselves, more for their community, more for their generation. And they are challenging their readers to listen, and to recognize in each story a common humanity worthy of dignity, support, and respect. This riot of voices must be heard.
ISBN: 978-0692455388
Age: 12+
Lexile: 820L
Page Count: 88
Published: 2015
Proceeds from book sales go to a Ballou HS scholarship fund and to empower new authors.
The students of Ballou High School know a different Washington, DC than do the more than 18 million tourists who visit our nation’s capital each year. They live in Southeast DC, across the Anacostia River, and the tour buses don’t go through their neighborhoods. Some travel guides explicitly call the communities East of the River “areas to avoid.” Even some residents of the District don’t often visit Wards 7 and 8, as the river acts as not only a literal boundary, but a metaphorical one. The bridge that should connect these two Washingtons is all too rarely crossed.
The statistics about poverty or crime or violence in this community tell such a limited story, and it’s not the only story to tell. Those statistics should not build a wall that hides the humanity on the other side. Young people grow up in these neighborhoods, often too quickly, facing adult challenges too young. But they also grow up as all young people do: with joy. With talent. With pride. With love for their families, both biological and chosen. With style and humor and ambition and charm. For them, Southeast DC, and their own Ballou High School, is more than the headlines that others write -- it is home. And for the educators who work with these young people every day, they know that the stories we tell--and hear--about ourselves make all the difference.
ISBN: 978-1945434006
Age: 12+
Lexile: 830L
Page Count: 88
Published: 2016
Proceeds from book sales go to a Ballou HS scholarship fund and to empower new authors.
"Your Story Is Your Strength." This is the mantra that emerged from a six-month writing project at Ballou High School in Washington, DC, in which eleven dedicated freshmen and six determined seniors told their stories of ambition and struggle in what came to be known as The Ballou Story Project. Together their poignant, powerful voices come together to tell a collective story of How To Grow Up Like Me, a kind of instruction manual for determination, grit, and daily acts of hope and courage.
ISBN: 978-0692309568
Age: 12+
Lexile: 770L
Page Count: 88
Published: 2014
AUTHOR VOICE
Recently, Ballou High School graduates and co-authors of How to Grow Up Like Me, Our Lives Matter, and Humans of Ballou, Carl Brown and Darne’sha Walker visited a class of 6th-8th graders at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES). KDES is a day school serving deaf and hard of hearing students from birth through grade 8 located within Gallaudet University’s campus.