Did you hear the news? This year, 100 percent of Ballou High School’s senior class applied to college! We could not be more proud of the graduating class of 2017. Wow!
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This winter has been a busy one! This is what we’ve been up to.
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Here at Shout Mouse, we see Black History Month as an opportunity to look at the past and think about how and why history matters for the present and the future.
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There is a devastating lack of multicultural representation in children’s literature. This is particularly troubling when one considers the negative effect this dearth has on literacy in underrepresented communities. That’s why it’s so important that our entire catalog is the libraries of all D.C. Public Schools, and in the public library system, and being spread across the country.
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They're here! Last night we were thrilled to celebrate with 14 brand new teen authors of Reach Incorporated as they launched their 2016 series of children's books. We are so proud of these teens for serving as role models and leaders for the next generation, combatting messages of fear and division with stories of hope and connection.
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When I founded a nonprofit to “amplify unheard voices” a little over two years ago, I never could have imagined the election of 2016. I believed deeply in the power of self-expression, and beyond that, in the power of engaged public expression.
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We are days away from the launch of the 2016 series of Reach Incorporated Books by Teens. Over the summer, fourteen teen authors worked very hard to write four beautiful and insightful stories. Since then, four talented illustrators have worked to bring those stories to life.
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We’re thrilled to announce that thanks to a generous grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, we will be able expand and innovate the Ballou Story Project this year through a cool new partnership with Young Playwrights' Theater. We’re taking these stories to the stage! Stay tuned for updates about the performance this spring.
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This month, Shout Mouse went on a book tour to Granville, Ohio. We were honored to be invited by Denison University to speak on campus as part of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program’s Laura C. Harris Symposium.
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This year, the authors of Free Minds were invited to attend the National Book Festival to share their own important book, The Untold Story of the Real Me.
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Carson McNamara is one of the newest members of our art team here at Shout Mouse Press. Her first Shout Mouse project is to illustrate the upcoming children’s book Drip, Drip: The Story of the Angry Sherbet, by Reach Incorporated teen authors Marques, Ericka, Dartavius, and Dache.
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Here at Shout Mouse, we’re excited to celebrate September as National Literacy Month. Literacy is not only dear to our hearts, but central to our mission. To us, literacy is not only about ability to read, but also the capacity to love stories and to value one’s own voice. Find out our authors are encouraging literacy.
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The truth is, there’s no time when we need these teens more to be leaders for the next generation of readers. It’s been a turbulent summer in the world, with events all too often highlighting the destructive powers of hate, fear, and prejudice, and these writers have been creating both within this context and against this world view. We are proud of the mature ways that these teenagers have handled discussions of bias, authority, and protest, and of the ways they have channeled these lessons into both fun and meaningful stories for young readers.
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We’re going to Orlando, because that's where the important work of our authors is being celebrated. Their stories of dignity and empowerment and overcoming are the messages being touted, being shouted, from the stage. These are the values that drown out all the rest. We’re going to hold up their books as refutations, books that change the story--about who can make a difference, who can be a hero, who can sow love and hope and change against all odds--because changing the story is the first step in changing the heart.
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On Wednesday, April 27th, Shout Mouse Press was thrilled to announce an exciting new partnership with two local literary justice organizations: Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop and PEN/Faulkner Writers-in-Schools.
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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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