Fast-forward to today and four blogs later (including the one I am writing now), I am becoming somewhat of a blog connoisseur. I also realize that the blog is a dying art form becoming more of an archival online relic of tester year, replaced by Instagram, tweets, and Pinterest. It seems that we simply do not have enough time anymore to actually read someone's thoughts expressed on a page. We are slowly becoming used to abbreviations and emojis and less accompanied to blogs.
This is partly why I love the following two blogs who have not only dedicated themselves to promoting children's books by authors and illustrators of colour, they give us space (the word count and megabytes) to do so. I was interviewed by each of these blogs so.
Also included in this list are some of my children and young adult writing sheroes (some of whom I read while in elementary and high school) like Rita Williams Garcia, Rosa Guy, Jacqueline Woodson, Eloise Greenfield, and Vanessa Brantley Newton. They are all scheduled for the last few days of the month. And I can't wait!
I have known Itah Sadu for a long time. I have seen A Different Booklist book displays at numerous events over the years. I have attended workshops there. Itah Sadu even did a school visit to my classroom and school on numerous occasions. I have read her books Christopher Cleans His Room, Christopher Changes His Name, and Mathieu Da Costa: First to Arrive to my students over the years. I have attended various events she has organized in the Black community. So the interview was my opportunity to ask Itah all of the questions I have ever wanted to ask.
Back to the Anansesem blog, there are some really cool features like finding books by Caribbean country. Since the island in Malaika's Costume is not named, there is much interpretation about where the book is based. Many Trinidadians and other island people believe it is Trinidad. I am okay with this although I feel its weird to write about and name a place that I have not been. I have been to Jamaica, Cuba, Bahamas, and briefly to the Dominican Republic but I am most familiar with Jamaica. This is what I imagined when I wrote story but the Carnival traditions I use are Trinidadian. As long as we can agree that it's an island in the Caribbean, it's all good.