Art by Ernel Martinez from RAP IT UP! has been selected for the prestigious Society of Illustrators The Original Art exhibition, which showcases illustrations from the year’s best children’s books. How amazing that RAP IT UP! is Ernel’s first children’s book! He is best known as a Philadelphia mural artist. The original art show will run from October 15 to December 27 in New York City. Jeffery and I couldn’t be happier for Ernel. Congratulations, brother!
The is year is off to a great start with an NAACP Image Award finalist, CROWNING GLORY: A CELEBRATION OF BLACK HAIR, a new book, IF KAMALA CAN: . . . YOU CAN TOO! (illustrated by Ariana Pacino) and a one-in-three chance that our family history, KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE, will be the One Maryland One Book selection for 2025. If chosen, this would be a first for me and Jeffery. Fingers crossed!
IF KAMALA CAN is not a biography but instead an inspirational book meant to affirm young readers’s aspirations by following former Vice President Kamala Harris’s example. If you’ve read BE A KING: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.’s DREAM AND YOU, you’ll know what I mean.
In Nashville, Tennessee, a professional development on my books inspired music teachers to create an original composition celebrating BROS. More than 200 students played, sang and danced to the piece in the district’s first Elementary Music Festival at Tennessee Performing Arts Center–a first for the district. I also visited three schools where students performed music and dances based on BROS and JAZZ BABY. Student art on the themes in BROS was displayed on folded cafeteria tables, The production, which was beyond my imagination, was the brainchild of Franklin Willis, Metro Nashville Public Schools Director of Music, and Dr. Tiffeni Fontno, Director of Peabody Library at Vanderbilt University. Way to extend the literature!!!
Jeffery kicked off the new year by conducting his popular RAP IT UP! workshop for BAAM (Building African American Minds), a youth agency in Easton, Maryland. The all-male group produced a rap that is absolute fire!!! This transformative workshop is a mainstay of our summer offerings. Formerly known as Hip Hop Tech for its S.T.E.A.M. connections, it has been renamed after our upcoming how-to book and first co-authored collaboration, RAP IT UP!, illustrated by Ernel Martinez. Pre-order now.
Our next stop is Singapore American School–our first international visit since the pandemic. Wherever you are, we would love to visit your school, library or community with books and programs that spark curiosity, creativity, consciousness and confidence. Our K-12 presentations and workshops connect to the ELA, social studies, STEAM and SEL curricula. Themes include biographies, primary sources, social justice, and jazz. We also headline family literacy/parent involvement events. Here are a few options to whet your appetite:
TEACHERS GUIDES FOR BOOKS CITED
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.
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.
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!).
In award news, Jeffery and I look forward to accepting the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Poetry for our verse novel/family history, KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE. And, HOW DO YOU SPELL UNFAIR? MACNOLIA COX AND THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE received Cleveland Public Library’s Norman A. Sugarman Children’s Biography Award Honor. Book love never gets old.
TEACHERS GUIDES FOR BOOKS CITED
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).
