Why I Write

These are my babies. I started thinking about writing my Sophie Washington book series when they were small, and I put pen to paper  a couple of years later. Now they are teens and taller than me! 
 
I write because I want ALL children to be seen. Growing up, I loved to read, but few of the books I enjoyed starred characters who looked like me, and those that I remember were sharecroppers or slaves, which I definitely learned from but didn’t always directly identify with. Things hadn’t changed when I started reading with my kids years later, and today, Black characters still are featured in just 11 percent of children’s books, less than animals and “others” (toys, robots, etc.), which make up 29 percent of featured characters in children’s books.
 
This is not what I see in my community in Houston, where I could walk into a Panera Bread pre-pandemic and spot Blacks, Whites, Asians, Latinos, and Arabic people in the same space.
 
As the great educator Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop says, books should be “mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors,” allowing ALL children to see themselves and to learn about others. I write to be a part of this movement to provide books that entertain, educate, and inspire youth from all backgrounds.
 
What inspires you to do your work? What is your why?

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