Guess what we just learned? 3 Shout Mouse Press books have been named as FINALISTS for 4 awards in 2 categories in a nation-wide book contest for independent presses!
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The best thing about getting our authors' stories out into the world is hearing about all the ways that their voices can be used to educate, activate, and open hearts and minds. Recently we sat down with the good folks at Turning the Page, a DC-based organization that works to improve public school education, and we discovered a brand new use for one of our books: as a training resource for new community educators.
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You’ve heard about the incredible #1000blackgirlbooks campaign, right?
If not, here’s the scoop:
Marley Dias, age 11, decided she was sick of always reading about “white boys and dogs.” She asked, where are the characters who look like me? Those books about strong proud funny beautiful black girls were not showing up in her school curriculum, so she decided to do something about it: she started the #1000blackgirlbooks campaign.
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Recently, we sat down with Jonae, a Beacon House author of Trinitoga and our upcoming book, The Day Tajon Got Shot. We got the opportunity to ask her about her reaction to other students and adults who have read her work, and what it means to her to be a teenage author.
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Our authors write for the same reasons all authors write: to express themselves, to explore and imagine, and ultimately, to connect to others through their words on the page. Writing and reading helps us all feel less alone.
So we were gratified and thrilled by a reaction we got recently from a reader who needs that connection and community right now very much. Through our partners at Free Minds Book Club, we’ve sent several Shout Mouse books to young people who are incarcerated, which is how L, a twenty-year-old from Baltimore, got to read Trinitoga. After reading, she wrote to the Trinitoga authors, saying that she related to their book, and she hoped they would keep writing. She talked about the importance of writing in her own life:
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We recently sat down with Najae, one of the authors of The Day Tajon Got Shot. Najae is writing the chapter for Bobby, a drug dealer who gets in an argument with Tajon before he is shot. She's also helped with the character of Dwayne, Tajon’s father. Najae talked to us about her inspiration for writing and the importance of being able to see the world through different perspectives from her own.
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Yesterday was the Book Launch for Reach’s 2015 books, and we couldn’t be more excited for our authors. So much celebration, so much pride, and so much support for these talented and important young voices. We had the chance to catch up with new author Daijha Cain, who co-wrote A Little Girl in a Big, Big World, during the launch at the Pepco Galley. Daijha dazzled us with her imagination and motivation when we worked with her this summer, and she’s already looking to the future!
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On November 19, 2015, Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander will kick off the launch of the latest series of Reach Incorporated Books by Teens. We're especially excited about this because Kwame's work with his organization Book-in-a-Day is part of the inspiration for Shout Mouse Press! We can't wait for Kwame to meet his legacy authors and to celebrate the power of their words in the world.
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On October 24, the authors of Shout Mouse took part in the second annual DC Public Library Author Fest. While we were selling books at our table, an excited Shout Mouse reader came up to meet our authors and share how she has already been using their words in her college classroom at the University of Maryland, College Park.
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On Wednesday, August 12th, we had the incredible opportunity to meet leaders working with at-risk youth from all over the world and to share with them our books! Through a program called the IVLP which is run by the State Department, we met with folks from: Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belize, Congo, Egypt, Haiti, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine.
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“I was held back in second grade,” one of the writers said. “But it wasn’t my fault--the teacher was evil.” The rest of the group started to become engaged as they shared stories of all of their evil teachers and their cruel tactics: pinching them, hitting them with rulers, calling their parents. They decided they wanted to write a story about an evil second grade teacher. They talked about how they had told their parents about their evil teachers but nobody believed them. These writers wanted to create a story to empower kids to make a difference for themselves.
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In one night this past weekend, two young men from the communities served by Shout Mouse were shot and killed in senseless acts of violence...
I cannot help thinking of our authors when I hear this news, and of the weight of growing up in such a world where life is taken so carelessly outside your front door. I'm thinking about the psychic pain of not feeling safe at home. It sticks with me.
Read MoreGuess who was spotlighted recently in a Boston Globe article called, "The Summer Reading List We Really Need"?
Our fearless, peerless partners at Reach, Inc., for not only teaching literacy skills, but for "cultivating a love of reading." We're thrilled to be coaching their teens once again to write books that both educate and entertain, and that inspire young readers to ask, "Wait, can I be an author, too?" (Our answer: Yes, please.)
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We’re excited to be working on our THIRD annual series of teen-authored children’s books with the writers of Reach Incorporated!
We’re half-way through our second week of workshops, and our authors have narrowed down their massive list of story ideas to begin writing four creative, thoughtful, and engaging books.
Read MoreWoohoo! Shout Mouse books on national radio and Kojo Nnamdi's 2015 Summer Reading List!
Mark Hecker of Reach, Inc. knocked it out of the soundbooth today on The Kojo Nnamdi Show's Kids and YA Summer Reading program. He was an incredible ambassador not only for Reach's teen authors but also for the authors of Ballou Senior High School, and Beacon House.
Read MoreShout of the Day goes to End Slavery Now for highlighting the important work of the Restavek Freedom Foundation writers!
"Telling our kids about the bad things happening in the world is a tough task. Restavek Freedom Foundation is helping to make that conversation easier with their children's books written by former child slaves."
Read More"Buy this book," says poet/activist/educator Kyle Dargan. "Share it with other young people and use it as a tool to educate yourselves and initiate conversations with others."
We are grateful to Kyle for his incisive foreword, for his call to action on behalf of these authors, and most importantly for his commitment to voicing hard and necessary truths in the name of justice. Read his blog post and smart foreword below, and SHARE WITH EDUCATORS EVERYWHERE.
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BOOK LAUNCH!
We did it! The authors of Ballou Senior High School launched their beautiful new book into the world: Our Lives Matter. Incredible day yesterday of readings, autographs, hugs, and lots and lots of applause. Thank you to everyone who made this happen and was there to cheer on these authors! And thank you most importantly to the authors themselves. We are so proud!
We started writing a week before the decision came down in Ferguson. We finished two days after protestors took to the streets in Baltimore.
Through the course of a historic year in our country's ongoing Civil Rights Movement, 30 students from Ballou Senior High School came together to add something powerful to the national conversation about race, inequality, violence, and justice.
On Tuesday, May 12, 2015, I was given an incredible opportunity: to meet President Obama and put our authors' stories in his hands.
WHAT?!! That's how I felt. Here's how it happened:
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