WHEN I MOVE, my upcoming book for the youngest readers. releases April 29, 2025. Illustrated by Alea Marley, this picture book will get kids moving and imagining! Bouncy rhymes will inspire little ones to jump, run, and explore. Pre-order here.
Tag: Diverse Books
Big News about KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE
Jeffery and I are so grateful that our ancestors reclaimed narratives will be amplified through KIN’s selection as the 2025 One Maryland One Book. We can almost feel our ancestors smiling down on us. Stay tuned for details of related activities. Thank you, Maryland Humanities.
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
A Love Letter to THE Most Banned Author
I believe that one of the most beautiful passages I have ever written appears in A Crown of Stories: The Life and Language of Beloved Writer Toni Morrison. The passage incorporates her book titles and character names. See and hear the spreads above.
Illustrated by Khalif Tahir Thomspon, A Crown of Stories is a praise song written in second person. I chose that point of view not to put young readers in her shoes but to pen a love letter to Ms. Morrison herself. I completed the manuscript before Ms. Morrison became an ancestor. I had hoped, of course, that she might read the book and be pleased by my exultation.
Besides being a Nobel Laureate, Toni Morrison is the most frequently banned author. Her books have been on the list of the 100 most banned titles in each of the previous three decades, reaching the top 10 between 2010 and 2019.
As one whose work has also been banned or challenged, I agree with Ms. Morrison’s assertion:
The best art is political and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time.
Drumroll, Please: Exciting News, New Books & School & Summer Programs
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:
- RAP IT UP! presentation, workshop or residency
- Genealogy Camp for ages 12-up
- Jazz, Justice, Joy & JUNETEENTH JAMBOREE (Focus on enslavement, segregation/civil rights or Black music)
- Lifting the Ceiling off of Dreams (YOU CAN FLY: THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN and other achievers)
TEACHERS GUIDES FOR BOOKS CITED
Pinch me, please. I still can’t believe this.
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.
By the Numbers: 2024 in Review
- 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 Family Business: Kid Lit Duos
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:
- King Holiday
- Black History Month
- Women’s History Month
- Music Education Month
- National Poetry Month
- School Library Week
- Photography Month
Find out about our school visits here.
The Unclaimed Wealth that is Your Birthright
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.
Voting, Visits, Lesson Plans, New Books, Recent Honors & a Giveaway
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
