Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 126

Page from a Tennessee Journal

Is it snowing where you are?  We're expecting more than a foot here in NYC—so I'm glad I've got food in the house and a few good books.  The ideal book to curl up with on a snowy day is Page from a Tennessee Journal by Francine Thomas Howard.  It's the story of two couples in 1913 Tennessee whose lives are brought to the brink of violence when the white husband becomes obsessed (or falls in love with?) a desperate black woman who believes she's been abandoned by her own husband.  Many thanks ...

old NYC

BIG shout-out to Ranger Doug over at the African Burial Ground Museum in lower Manhattan.  I went over there today to show him the new book, and he gave me an impromptu history lesson on the back cover image—even offering me a bigger picture of the original 1850 image!  That circular building just off the tip of Manhattan is Castle Clinton…learn all this and more by taking a FREE tour at the ABG.  Tell them I sent you!

time for tea

Part of being Canadian means I grew up drinking gallons (litres) of tea…still do, even though I sometimes prefer a mug of Milo (and I'm sure there's a colonial connection there, too).  We're expecting more than a foot of snow tomorrow, so I stocked up on food and plan to stay indoors with a good book and a cup of tea.  There's also some good stuff to read online: swing by the Brown Bookshelf every day this month b/c they're putting the spotlight on amazing African American authors and...

spotlight on Gal Novelty

You all know I'm Canadian, and you might also know that Neesha Meminger is Canadian…but did you know that Ah Yuan, who blogs at Gal Novelty, is ALSO Canadian?  We're a nation of fierce women, but as people of color we often find ourselves on the outside of things in our "multicultural" country.  This week the spotlight's on Ah Yuan—check her out in the blogger's spotlight over at Reading in Color…then swing by Justine Larbalestier's blog to read about Ah Yuan's passion for books that hold up ...

8th Grade Super Zero

The thing about being a teacher is that you can't look at anything, really, without instantly thinking of ways you could use it in the classroom.  I've been telling you about the gentrification exhibit at MoCADA, and how I think about gentrification a lot, and now I've just finished a middle grade novel that would be an excellent introduction to the issue of housing/human rights.  In fact, I'm not so secretly hoping that Gbemi and I can work with MoCADA and their teen partners!  I did a...

the pink elephant

My friends and I talk about gentrification ALL the time, and have for years…but as MoCADA founder Laurie Cumbo points out in this great NY1 interview, gentrification is often a topic that gets discreetly avoided "in mixed company."  Two years ago I moved into my friend's apartment here in Brooklyn and immediately noticed that the building had changed—there were many more white residents, and those who owned their co-op apartments sometimes seemed at odds with long-time renters (who were...

happy, happy, joy, joy!

Omnivoracious

If you can stand it, check out my guest post at the Omnivoracious blog, and meet Francine Thomas Howard, author of Page from a Tennessee Journal, which comes out on AmazonEncore in mid-March!  These are the questions we asked ourselves—what do YOU think?

Most Americans like to think of US history in terms of progress, especially when it comes to African Americans (thing were bad, but they're steadily getting better). Does historical fiction support or disrupt that theory?What do contemporary...

"all the news that's fit to print"

Ok, that's the motto of The New York Times, and my latest interview is in USA Today, so that doesn't really apply.  You can find the article here, but don't hold your breath—my forty-minute talk with the reporter has been significantly reduced, and very little of what I said could be included (and for the record, I'm 37 and no longer teach at Mt Holyoke).  Interviews that are not recorded can be tough; I remember my first interview was done in a cafe with a super loud coffee grinder, and so...

It must be February!

…because there are a whole lot of great interviews and features out there!  Stop by The Brown Bookshelf to read Kekla Magoon's insights on compelling historical fiction.  Then head over to Bookslut and read Colleen Mondor's comprehensive consideration of the lack of diversity in children's literature.

I have been trying for days to write an article about the lack of diversity in middle grade and young adult fiction and found myself confounded at every turn. This has been a very intense...