You have exceeded your limit for simultaneous device logins.
Your current subscription allows you to be actively logged in on up to three (3) devices simultaneously. Click on continue below to log out of other sessions and log in on this device.
At Ibi Zoboi's 2014 graduation from the Writing for Children Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts: husband Joseph, son Zuber, daughters Abadai and Bahati, and mother Monique. Photo courtesy of Ibi Zoboi. My whole life, my mother has been an avid writer. Between leading writing workshops for teenage girls...
Some of the most indelible imagery in Big, this year’s Caldecott Medal–winning title by Vashti Harrison, is of breaking free of constraints, as a protagonist who feels trapped “make[s] more space for herself,” emerging into a stunning double gatefold. Big was a BIG deal this year, with additional accolades including...
I have been writing and telling stories my entire adult life. My first love was journalism — what I consider to be truth-telling. Then I fell in love with spoken word poetry — what I consider to be testifying. The need to tell the truth and to testify has always...
Winner Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 384 pp. 5/23 9780062888846 $19.99 e-book ed. 9780062888860 $12.99 Sixteen-year-old Nigeria is expected to lead the youth of the Movement (which is “like a small African West Philly village in the big, white state of Pennsylvania”) and model what...
Nigeria Jones by Ibi ZoboiHigh School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 384 pp.5/23 9780062888846 $19.99e-book ed. 9780062888860 $12.99Sixteen-year-old Nigeria is expected to lead the youth of the Movement (which is “like a small African West Philly village in the big, white state of Pennsylvania”) and model what it means to be a...
I own a well-read copy of Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales. It’s a classic in many households, as it should be. It’s not just the stories that I return to over and over again; it’s the magical illustrations by the dynamic duo Leo and Diane Dillon....
Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler by Ibi Zoboi Intermediate, Middle School Dutton 128 pp. g 1/22 978-0-399-18738-4 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-399-18739-1 $9.99 A biography that’s as unique in form and content as the groundbreaking sci-fi/fantasy author herself. Zoboi (The People Remember, rev. 11/21) came to this...
Firstly, I always have to thank my co-author, Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam, for extending such warmth and grace throughout our process of drafting, revising, publishing, and promoting Punching the Air, a story inspired by Yusef’s experiences as a wrongfully incarcerated teen. We can never truly understand Yusef’s journey. However,...
The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi; illus. by Loveis Wise Primary, Intermediate Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 64 pp. g 9/21 978-0-06-291564-1 $19.99 Through art and words, with the framework of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, Zoboi (American Street, rev. 3/17; Black Enough, rev. 1/19) and Wise beautifully “sew together a...
Today on Calling Caldecott, a conversation between Elisa Gall and Jonathan Hunt about holiday books and the Caldecott Award. (This is an entry in their why-the-hell Calling Caldecott series. Previous posts include discussions about the Caldecott and photography; board books; the Newbery Award; and "didactic intent.") – J.D. and M.V.P. ELISA...