Midwest love

My three days in Cincinnati were awesome! I don’t think I’ve been back in Ohio since I taught at OU from 2001-2003; I remember being quite lonely then and it was hard to make friends, but this time around I felt more than welcome. This picture really says it all—the more I travel, the more thankful I am to find kindred spirits. I met my co-panelists, Greg Leitich Smith, Sam Bloom, and Alia Jones, for the first time this weekend; we’d previously “met” on social media and corresponded via email, but that’s no guarantee that we would actually connect in person. And yet as soon as I saw Sam coming forward to greet me at his daughters’ school, I felt like I was seeing an old friend. His wife also felt like someone I’d known for a while—it was her birthday and she still came out to see my presentation! Sam and Lisa, his colleague at the Cincinnati Public Library, stayed for my two writing workshops and the sixth-grade students I met were fantastic–full of imaginative ideas. For lunch we met librarian/blogger Edith Campbell and Alia at a lovely tea house where we talked honestly about problems in the kid lit community over scones, sandwiches, and cupcakes.

We had a mild, sunny day for the book festival on Saturday and it was a short walk from the hotel to the convention center. My table mate was friendly and though there were only a handful of PoC in the crowd, I met a few people who were looking for inclusive titles. One Black woman educator wanted a book for her 5th and 6th graders but there were no more copies of Ship of Souls. She bought a copy of Melena’s Jubilee for her reluctant readers and I offered her a postcard that shows all my books. Not surprisingly, she immediately pointed to The Deep and asked, “What’s this one about?” When I told her it’s about a Black girl superhero, she smiled and said, “That one’s for me!” For some reason, that book seems to captivate readers. On Friday at the school, I presented on Bird and Ship of Souls yet a small mixed-race boy with freckles asked me where he could find The Deep. “How old are you?” I asked him. When he said he was nine, I told him he’d be ready for The Deep when he was twelve. But I doubt he’s going to wait that long. The next day he and his mother stopped by my table at the book festival and asked me to sign a copy of Ship of Souls. Then they came back around a few minutes later and asked if they could take a photo with me. As he was leaving, the boy pulled a corner of the book from his plastic bag as if to say, “I really did buy it!” That had me smiling for the next five minutes. Another parent emailed me Saturday morning to thank me for inspiring her son:

Thank you for an amazing visit to Sands Montessori today. My son could not stop talking about your visit. He told me everything from your preschool years, the stolen microwave, saying hello (or was it thank you?) to a swan (was it a swan?), ancient burial grounds to the many books you’ve written. He started looking on Amazon after our conversation to see which books we should buy first!  No author visit has really done this before. He is a great reader and is always willing to read at night before bedtime. Thank you for inspiring him to continue reading and add more books to his library!

During our panel I talked about the systemic problems in the publishing industry, and I often say it will take more than a few “good apples” to turn things around. But that doesn’t mean that individuals are powerless to effect change, and when one person has the courage to go against convention, incredible things can happen. I’m grateful to Sam and the folks at the Cincinnati Public Library for the opportunity to connect with young readers and writers—I hope I planted a few seeds during my time at Sands Montessori. We could have kept on talking but ran out of time for our panel on Saturday; I’m hoping the conversation will continue when my reparations article comes out. The cover art for The Return is done so I need to turn my attention back to that novel. Hopefully I’ll get some hotel writing done while I’m in Illinois! Would love to have it done by my birthday on the 26th…