Carole Boston Weatherford & Jeffery Weatherford, author-illustrator, mother-son duo behind children's and young adult books: diverse, anti-racist nonfiction, biographies, poetry, historical fiction on African American heritage, culture, social justice. STEAM programs for K-12 and all ages.
Leading up to the American Library Association Youth Media Awards, I was of course pulling for my books. Perhaps Outspoken: Paul Robeson, Ahead of His Time-A One-Man Show or Whriligigs: The Wondrous Windmills of Vollis Simpson’s Imagination would get a Sibert nod, or Crown of Stories: The Life and Language of Beloved Writer Toni Morrison would be recognized by the Coretta Scott King Award committee, or Crowning Glory: A Celebration of Black Hair would clinch another Caldecott for illustrator Ekua Holmes. It’s a good thing that I am not a betting woman because I was dead wrong.
I never dreamed that it would be me, not my 2024 books, being honored this year. When I got the call from the award committee of the Association for Library Service to Children, I was in shock. The biggest thrill, though, was hearing the applause when my name was called during the award announcement at ALA Lib/Learn X in Denver.
After streaming the announcements, I looked heavenward and whispered, “Mommy and Daddy, I did it.” Their spirits will be with me when I accept the award this summer in Philadelphia.
8 new books, including 2 inspired by Black hair stories (Who would have thought it?)
2 Coretta Scott King Honors (for Kin: Rooted in Hope and How Do You Spell Unfair? Macnolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee)
9 starred reviews
4 awards for KIN: Rooted in Hope, including the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
3 awards for How Do You Spell Unfair?–including the NCSS Carter G. Woodson Honor and the Norman Sugarman Award for Biographies Honor
1 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award (for A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the March on Washington)
1 NAACP Image Award nomination (for How Do You Spell Unfair?)
1 book on the NSTA STEM list (first time ever)–Whirligigs: The Wondrous Windmills of Vollis Simpson’s Imagination
Thanks to all who reviewed these titles, served on award committees and shared the books with young people.
Look for a bevy of new releases in 2025, including RAP IT UP!–the first book co-authored with my son, rapper and award-winning illustrator, Jeffery Boston Weatherford. Pre-order here.
The recent passing of Nikki Giovanni reminded me of the first poetry book that I ever bought. Edited by Dudley Randall and published by his Detroit-based Broadside Press, the slim volume BLACK POETRY was released in 1969, the year I turned 13 and began wearing an Afro. The anthology collects works by Harlem Renaissance poets such as jean Toomer, Claude McKay and Langston Hughes and voices from Black Arts Movement, including Giovanni, Etheridge Knight, Sonia Sanchez, Clarence Major, Amira Baraka (then known as LeRoi Jones) and Haki Madhubuti (then known as Don Lee).
I bought the book during a lunch break from my part-time job at one of Baltimore’s downtown department stores. After a hamburger or kosher hot dog at the Earl of Sandwich, I’d usually head to either the Enoch Pratt Central Library or Sherman’s Bookstore and Newstand. There, I bought Black Panther newspapers, a haiku anthology, Pablo Neruda’s The Captain’s Verses and BLACK POETRY.
While in college and soon after, I attended poetry readings by Giovanni, Sanchez and Madhubuti. And, I was awed by the Ntozake Shange’s innovative play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide (When the Rainbow is Enough). Shange’s so-called choreopoem showed me that poetry belongs not only on the page but also onstage. Poets of the Black Arts Movement showed me that poetry could be political and validated my own emerging voice.
As a budding author, I sometimes encountered Nikki Giovanni at literary events where attendees mistook me for her. I could not have been more flattered. With pride and gratitude, I dedicate my term as the Poetry Foundation’s Young People’s Poet Laureate to the poets of the Black Arts Movement who inspired a younger me.
School Library Journal featured four award-winning family duos who collaborate on children’s books: the Roccos, the Pinkneys, the Pumphreys and us, the Weatherfords. We talk about the dynamics (and ground rules) of their creative partnerships. We are honored to be in such eloquent and illustrious company. Read the article here.
Jeffery and I not only create books together, but also take our “show” on the road to schools, libraries and cultural institutions. We’d love to visit your campus or community. We have books and programs that connect to the curriculum and commemorate the following observances:
Part of my mission as an author is to ask critically relevant and often tough questions to uncover the past and connect it with our present experiences. One of these questions is: What is generational wealth?
When we think of generational wealth, most of us immediately consider financial inheritance—money, property, or businesses passed down through families. If your state is like mine, the comptroller issues an annual listing of unclaimed bank accounts. I check every year, to no avail. One can hope.
When we view wealth solely through a financial lens, though, we unintentionally exclude a significant portion of people, especially Black people, who were historically barred from accumulating wealth in traditional ways. From being exploited as free labor to being denied access to quality education and higher-paying jobs, Black Americans faced immense barriers to financial prosperity. While overcoming these barriers was not impossible, the achievement gap was often substantial.
Limiting wealth to a purely financial definition also blinds us to the wealth we already possess—in our bloodlines, in our stories. Through the journey of writing KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE, Jeffery and I began to broaden our understanding of generational wealth.
Access to the history of our enslaved ancestors is itself a form of generational wealth. Not because they were able to preserve their stories, but because their enslavers, in their cold calculus, kept detailed records of what they considered their “property.” These records allow us to trace the past, reclaim our heritage, and carry the strength of our ancestors with us.
Through poetry and art, in KIN, Jeffery and I explore these ideas of wealth, equity, and access. For us, telling my family’s story is part of a broader mission to expand the narrative of generational wealth beyond just financial capital and into the deeper, richer inheritance of identity, resilience, and hope.
This month, we celebrate the one-year anniversary of KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE. It’s been an incredible journey sharing my family’s story with the world, and I’m thrilled to announce the release of the paperback edition. I hope this new format will continue to bring these important stories to new readers and remind us all of the true wealth we carry in our roots. That wealth is yours to claim!
Download the KIN reading guide and ponder your own family’s wealth.
If you don’t vote, you don’t count.–Fannie Lou Hamer
Now that I’m retired (after 22 years as an English professor), Jeffery and I will be presenting more often. Our programs connect to the ELA, social studies, STEAM and SEL curricula. Themes include biographies, primary sources, social justice, and jazz. We offer writing/poetry workshops inspired by oral traditions and family history, as well as professional development workshops and family literacy programs. A daylong visit includes three assemblies or workshops plus Q&A, an informal small group session and book signings. Jeffery’s popular RAP IT UP! writing workshops and residencies continue to transform young writers. View our Visits Guide.
Save on travel by booking us when we’re touring your area. On November 15, I’ll be in Cleveland, unpacking BOX: HENRY BROWN MAILS HIMSELF TO FREEDOM at Ohio State University’s Newbery Award Symposium. Other stops include: Chicago (October 24), Boston (October 26 and November 21-24) and Cincinnati (November 1). If we’re in your city, drop by to check out these new fall books.
With the election, Family History Month (October) and Hip Hop History Month (November) approaching, we stress the importance of knowing your history (KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE); of using your voice (RAP IT UP!); and of voting (THE FAITH OF ELIJAH CUMMINGS: THE NORTH STAR OF EQUAL JUSTICE; MADAM SPEAKER: NANCY PELOSI CALLS THE HOUSE TO ORDER; and VOICE OF FREEDOM: FANNIE LOU HAMER, SPIRIT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT).
If you’re a Weatherford Report subscriber with a U.S. mailing address. enter to win VOICE OF FREEDOM. In the comments below or via email by September 30, tell us when you first heard of unsung voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer (even if it’s today o’clock!).
What better way to kick off my retirement from academia than at the American Library Association conference in San Diego? My illustrator son, Jeffery Boston Weatherford, was there too, celebrating—and signing—our verse novel, KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE, which won a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, as did my picture book biography HOW DO YOU SPELL UNFAIR? MACNOLIA COX AND THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE. Of six signings, four panels, two speeches and one performance, the highlight was Jeffery’s surprise introduction at the CSK Award breakfast. “She’s not just a mother to me,” he said. “She’s a mother to Black children’s books.” I was almost speechless! The only thing sweeter was taking the award home to my 98-year-old mother.
Neither of us was at a loss for words at the CSK 55th Anniversary Gala where we were on a panel moderated by three brilliant students and featuring CSK Award winner Dare Coulter and Caldecott Medal winner Vashti Harrison. Afterwards, we performed ”Black Means: Roll Call & Rap,” a call-and-response, found poem celebrating CSK award and honor books. The crowd really got into it.
The week before the conference, we heard that KIN won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for poetry and that HOW DO YOU SPELL UNFAIR? won the Carter G. Woodson Honor from National Council for the Social Studies. We appreciate all the book love.
On the road to ALAAC24, Jeffery conducted his RAP IT UP residency in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The popular workshop takes its name from our first co-authored book, illustrated by Philadelphia muralist Ernel Martinez. Conceived by Jeffery to foster creative expression and to build reading, writing and public speaking skills, RAP IT UP drops in Spring 2025.
We made some new friends at ALA, including Miss Black America Gabrielle Wilson, whose platform is extending protections of the Crown Act to K-12 students. I was happy to share with her an F&G of CROWNING GLORY: A CELEBRATION OF BLACK HAIR, my second collaboration with Ekua Holmes.
I am always thrilled to see my new books on publishers’ banners. I’m even more excited to hold new books in my hands for the first time and to sign readers’ copies–both of which I did at ALAAC24.
The new picture book biography, BRIDGES INSTEAD OF WALLS: THE STORY OF MAVIS STAPLES, illustrated by Steffi Walthall, hit stores July 9. And Fall will bring four new picture book releases: the aforementioned CROWNING GLORY; HAIR LIKE OBAMA’S, HANDS LIKE LEBRON’S, illustrated by Savanna Durr; the STEAM-powered folk art biography, WHIRLIGIGS: THE WONDROUS WINDMILLS OF VOLLIS SIMPSON’S IMAGINATION, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham, and THE DOLL TEST: CHOOSING EQUALITY, illustrated by David Cooper. We are also pleased to announce that the paperback edition of KIN is coming this fall. Pre-order any of these upcoming titles now! Get a 25% discount with the code PREORDER25! through July 17 if you are a Barnes & Noble Rewards or Premium member.
This summer, Jeffery and I hope to dive into an ambitious work-in-progress. When fall arrives, we look forward to visiting schools and libraries to mark Family History Month (KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE), Veterans Day (YOU CAN FLY: THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN), the Vote (VOICE OF FREEDOM: FANNIE LOU HAMER, SPIRIT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT), and the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (THE DOLL TEST: CHOOSING EQUALITY).
That’s what one young rhymer said after Jeffery’s HIP HOP TECH workshop at the Portsmouth Public Library in Virginia. Next year, we’re turning it up even more with a new picture book, RAP IT UP! Inspired by his popular workshops, Jeffery conceived this how-to book and co-authors with me. Philly muralist Ernel Martinez illustratres. The rhyming text drops knowledge about writing and public speaking. Peek inside and pre-order here.
Young rhymers can’t get their hand on the book yet, but they can grab a mic at Jeffery’s hip hop workshops this summer. Since 2015, libraries, museums and youth agencies have hosted single sessions and residencies. Empowered by their own words, youth gain greater self-awareness and self-confidence.from writing and performing. Contact Carole for more info: cbwpoet@gmail.com.
With 80 books, there’s a title for (almost) every season and observance, including Photography Month (May), Memorial Day, Black Music Month (June) and Juneteenth. Add to that books, activities and presentations for summer reading programs and Vacation Bible School (VBS!). It’s not too late to book the Weatherfords for late spring and summer.
For Photography Month, Jeffery and I focus on Gordon Parks and Dorothea Lange and how primary source photographs figure into our historical research.
KICK-OFF SUMMER WITH A SALUTE & SONG
For Memorial Day, we honor military heroes with poems from YOU CAN FLY; THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN and from KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE and a rousing rap from Jeffery saluting the pioneering Black WWII pilots.
On May 31 or June 1, I hope you will pause to remember Black Wall Street, the nation’s wealthiest Black business district, once located in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood community, which, in 1921, was the scene of the nation’s worst incident of racial violence. UNSPEAKABLE: THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE, my 2021 collaboration with the late Floyd Cooper, tells that story.
For the Juneteenth national holiday, Jeffery and I share stories of enslavement and emancipation from KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE, MOSES: WHEN HARRIET TUBMAN LED HER PEOPLE TO FREEDOM and JUNETEENTH JAMBOREE, the first children’s book about the first African-American holiday.
This summer Jeffery will again offer his popular Hip Hop Tech workshop, now known as RAP IT UP!–after our upcoming picture book collaboration. These transformative sessions get tweens and teens hyped about writing and performing original rap lyrics. A Petersburg, Virginia, workshop produced what has got to be thee dopest testimonial: “I can’t believe they let us get lit like that in the library! Believe it. Jeffery is already booked for a residency in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
For Black Music Month, Jeffery and I tune in to African-American musical genres and musicians–from spirituals, blues, and gospel, to jazz, soul and rap. Yes, we got books for all that.
TAKING IT TO CHURCH!
With book bans proliferating and Black history under attack, grassroots reading/study groups are needed more than ever. We encourage churches to host reading programs for all ages, but especially for children. Many of our titles are perfect for Vacation Bible School and for multigenerational audiences and discussions. Reading guides for many of these books are available as free downloads (more on that later). If your church literacy initiative uses our books, let us know. We may be available to join the discussion via Zoom. Here are some spirit-filled books to consider.
Group shots clockwise from top left: Jeffery and Carole greet family and friends after the KIN event in Easton, Maryland; BROS Day, a celebration hosted by the Chicago-based pop-up play space, Brown Books and Paintbrushes; at the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cambridge, Maryland; a student reading How Do You Spell Unfair? as part of the Dublin, California, One City/One Book project. The new picture book bios, Crown of Stories and Outspoken, release in April.
During Black History Month, Jeffery Boston Weatherford–my son and collaborator–and I took KIN: Rooted in Hope home to Talbot County, Maryland, where our newly freed forebears co-founded Reconstruction-era villages. Big hugs to librarian and event organizer Cindy Orban (top center in purple)–the best friend a book ever had. Thanks to the event sponsors, including Talbot County Free Library, The Country School, Avalon Theatre and Dorchester County Tourism Office. By the way, there’s now a KIN reading guide to accompany the Family Tree Activity sheet.
While in Easton, Maryland, we made what I am told was the largest donation statewide to the inaugural Maryland Commission on African American History & Culture Book Drive: board books–My Favorite Toy and Mighty Menfolk–for Talbot County’s toddlers.
Francis Scott Key by Jeffery Boston Weatherford from KIN (Atheneum).
Jeffery’s solo exhibition of prints from KIN—April 7 and through June at Baltimore’s Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Museum–will include the above portrait of Francis Scott Key. During the War of 1812, Key penned the Star Spangled Banner as bombs burst over Baltimore’s harbor. That same harbor made headlines recently when a 200-million-ton freighter slammed the Frances Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse, six deaths and thousands of lost jobs. I pray for the families of the road crew who were killed. I pray that my hometown can bear this blow and that rebuilding will be swift. #MarylandTough #BaltimoreStrong
There’s still time to book us–the Weatherfords–for a school visit this spring. We also offer Juneteenth celebrations and summer programs, such as Jeffery’s popular Rap It Up hip-hop writing workshop for ages 10 to adult. And it’s not too early to book us for next school year.
Carole Boston Weatherford & Jeffery Weatherford, author-illustrator, mother-son duo behind children's and young adult books: diverse, anti-racist nonfiction, biographies, poetry, historical fiction on African American heritage, culture, social justice. STEAM programs for K-12 and all ages.
