Learn Baby Learn: The Shindana Toy Factory’s Legacy of Black Pride

by Charlotte Watson Sherman, Esther Stimphat (Illustrator)

40 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 10, 2026

About the author

Born Charlotte Denise Watson, in 1958 in Seattle (Washington), the eldest of three children in a working class family. Displayed an early interest in literature. Dreamed of being a writer since third grade when Pippi Longstocking hijacked my imagination.

My mother believed it was dangerous for a daughter to always have her head in a book -- which led to reading by flashlight beneath bedcovers, a geeky, camouflaged appetite for studying the dictionary and keeping poems secret until publishing my first at nineteen.

I studied Social Sciences at Seattle University and began law school shortly after the birth of my first daughter. Once I realized I could actually become a lawyer, I left the University of Puget Sound and never looked back.

I worked as a pretrial screener, outreach coordinator, sexual abuse counselor, emergency housing counselor, child welfare worker, mental health screener, volunteer coordinator for a literacy program, research interviewer, and finally, when my youngest daughter left for college, a professional librarian.

It turns out, writing is the only thing I thought I was any good at, but it is definitely my calling.

Through an extraordinary blast of effort and good fortune, a collection of short fiction, Killing Color, was published by Calyx Books (1992); then shortly after, a novel, One Dark Body, by HarperCollins (1993); then an anthology, Sisterfire: Black Womanist Fiction and Poetry (1994); another novel, touch, (1995), and finally, a children's book, Eli and the Swamp Man (1996).

I received the following awards, fellowships, grants:

Seattle Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant, 1989; King County Arts Commission Fiction Publication Award, 1989; Artist Trust GAP Grant, 1989; Seattle Artists 1991 Research and Development Grant; Great Lakes Colleges Association Fiction Award, 1992; Black Women’s Gathering Women of Achievement Award, 1992; Washington State Arts Commission Fiction Fellowship, 1993; Brandeis University Women’s Committee Distinguished Author’s Award, 1993; Governor’s Writers Award, 1993; Seattle University Award for Professional Achievement, 1994; Granta literary magazine’s Best of Young American Novelists, shortlist, 1995; Barbara Deming Memorial Fund.

My fiction and nonfiction have been published in Essence, Ms., Parenting, American Visions, The Seattle Times, and Goodness Portland; as well as anthologies such as When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple, The Bluelight Corner, Spooks, Spies, and Private Eyes, Edgewalking on the Western Rim, and In Search of Color Everywhere.

I am currently revising a third novel, as well as a YA historical fiction tale I hope will be published as an illustrated story.

My muse is history. The task of healing and reconciling the past, propels the writing. My tools: word, image, ritual, dream, magic. - See more at: http://www.charlottewatsonsherman.com...

(from http://www.charlottewatsonsherman.com/)

Reviews

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

I was very excited to see a history of this Black centered toy company, but this book was more of an overview of Civil Rights after the Watts Riots of 1965 with a few pages about the company and its products than a comprehensive history of the company.

This would be great for a read aloud, since it is so short. I loved the vintage illustrations, just wanted a lot more information!

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.