Posted on 10/28/2025 in Uncategorized

Family Feast, on the Road with Kin

We’ve got a few more appearances before the holiday season: Arlington, Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC for the African American Civil War Museum Descendants Conference; and Denver, Colorado for National Council of Teachers of English conference. NCTE meets the week before Thanksgiving, so I’m planning ahead for my family feast. I’m prepping not only for the big meal but also to keep bellies full all weekend. These recipes are among my faves. What’s cooking at your house? Share in the comments section below.

How fitting that our One Maryland One Book (OMOB) tour for Kin: Rooted in Hope coincided with Family History Month and Banned Books Week. Kin traces our family’s lineage to 1770 on the largest enslavement plantation in Maryland and to two all-Black Reconstruction era villages that they co-founded. Jeffery and I collaborated on the book in a quest that culminated with this epiphany.

Knowing your history is generational wealth.

The OMOB tour began at Riversdale House Museum in Riversdale, Maryland with a pop-up exhibition of Jeffery’s art from the book juxtaposed with furniture and artifacts throughout the one-time plantation. Together, we discussed the book and shared favorite poems.

The next stop was Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Maryland on the Eastern Shore where the book is set. My dear friend, Harriette Lowery, a co-founder of the Frederick Douglass Honor Society, moderated the discussion which was livestreamed. A record crowd greeted us. We appreciate all the love.

Our busiest day–on Maryland’s Western Shore–included stops at the College of Southern Maryland in La Plata and St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City. The reception at the College of Southern Maryland featured such local delicacies as quick-pickled watermelon rind. Delish! Here’s a recipe.

We ended the week at Morgan State University in my hometown–Baltimore. Thanks to the Department of English and Foreign Languages and new chair Dr. DeMaris Hill for hosting our appearance.

Although our official tour wrapped up, discussions of Kin continue across the state. Jeffery and I attended the Berlin Book Festival (Maryland, not Germany!). Berlin was the birthplace of the subject of By and By: Charles Albert Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music, my first collaboration with Bryan Collier. I dropped in on a book club meeting at Edenwald senior living community in Towson, and we both spoke at the Maryland Lynching Memorial Conference at the Reginald F. Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture.

We’re eager to discuss Kin in secondary schools and with book clubs. Download the Kin reading guide here.

Posted on 09/04/2025 in Awards

Rap It Up! Illustrations by Ernel Martinez Picked for The Original Art Show

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!

Posted on 03/11/2025 in Uncategorized

My First STEAM Book–Whirligigs: The Wondrous Windmills of Vollis Simpson’s Imagination–Lands on 2 Best Book of the Year Lists!

I am pleased to announce that my first STEAM book, WHIRLIGIGS: THE WONDROUS WINDMILLS OF VOLLIS SIMPSON’S IMAGINATION, was selected by the National Science Teachers Association as a best book of the year and by the Children’s Literature Assembly as a 2025 Notable Book in the Language Arts. Profiling North Carolina folk artist Vollis Simpson, whose towering whirligigs are truly amazing, the book is about creativity and invention. Constructed of salvaged parts that others might discard, Simpson’s whirligigs spin, whirl and make sounds. Astra Books for Young Readers now has a study guide for WHIRLIGIGS. Find it here: https://astrapublishinghouse.com/resources/whirligigs-discussion-guide/.

Posted on 02/21/202502/21/2025 in Uncategorized

Summer @ Your Library: Juneteenth, Genealogy, Scratchboard Art & Rap It Up! Residency

When my first children’s book, Juneteenth Jamboree, debuted in 1995, it was the first picture book about Juneteenth. The first African-American holiday, Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the date in U.S. history when the last enslaved people were freed. For decades, the observance was regional to Texas and parts of Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kansas. Eventually, other areas joined the celebration. And, in 2021 Juneteenth became a federal holiday. Since 2020, Jeffery and I have kicked off summer with virtual and in-person Juneteenth celebrations–minus the barbecue.

Feast on these exciting programming options to engage young people all summer long.

Juneteenth Jamboree
RAP IT UP!
KIN Genealogy Camp
Scratchboard Art Workshop – Color your world with rainbow scratchboard

Posted on 04/19/202407/12/2024 in Uncategorized

Photography, Juneteenth, Black Music, Hip Hop Workshops for Tweens & Teens, VBS: We Got You.

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.

Posted on 03/28/202404/19/2024 in Uncategorized

Sheroes, BROS Day, Poetry Month Ideas, Juneteenth, Spelling Bees & a Buzzworthy Donation

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.

Jeffery and I celebrated Women’s History Month at Nashville’s Public Library and KIPP Middle School with presentations spotlighting little-known (s)heroes in collaboration Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman’s Fight for Equality and Respect and in How Do You Spell Unfair? Macnolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee, illustrated by Frank Morrison.

*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.

Finally, National Poetry Month calls for a one-poem project. May we suggest “Daniel Lloyd,” “Chicken Sue” or “Prissy” from KIN; “Head to the Sky” from You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen, “Fifth Grade” from Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library or the opening poem from Outspoken? Pluck a few six-line poems from BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom. Or choose a poetic picture book like Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, Freedom in Congo Square, You are My Pride: A Love Letter from Your Motherland, Be a King: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Dream and You or The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip Hop.