African American Males Need Books Too...

 

 

African American teen boys need books with African American male characters. This is important, because this validates their experiences and existence within literature. African American males make up a large number of students within the school population. Our ability to connect with these readers is critical to their reading success and helping them to become lifelong readers. Young adult author Tony Lindsay understands this plight and has penned two novels to date for these readers. His latest work, Almost Grown is a collection of short stories for students in grades 6-12. The stories span most genres of fiction and include authentic experiences that African American males can relate to as readers. This culturally relevant text is appropriate for readers of all interest levels and allows the reader to divulge with materials that resonates with them socially and culturally. Tony's work is available wherever books are sold.  



Black Male Contemporary Characters in Series Books

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

I decided a few years ago to write a book series for males under the pen name P. Boyd. I did this to make sure that boys didn’t reject the book simply because the author happens to be female. My focus in penning this series was to ensure that African American males had contemporary stories about their childhood. They needed something positive to speak to their experience about being children in an ever changing world. At the time, I found no books that included young black males as characters willing to change their environment for the better. In short, my aim was to target the middle ground in literature where reality meets fiction. The result was a story that was crafted to include two African American male characters that decided to open up a detective agency. Their goal was to solve the petty crimes in the neighborhood. I wanted to craft the characters are brilliant, ingenious, ambitious, and curious. Some readers of this blog may wonder why I wrote this series. My answer is simple. In order to any child to believe they are worthy, they must be confirmed through the experiences they read about at school. Black males are no different. In order for black males to be confirmed as brilliant, driven, and ingenious, they must have those experiences confirmed in the literature.

Happy Reading!

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author 

Books for Black Males Beginning to Read

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After careful research, I found there are only 3-4 authors that write series books for young African American males in grades 1-3. This is a problem considering there are very few book series written for African American males in the early grades. This is an issue considering early reading is the foundation for reading success. If black males have very few reading choices that include their experiences, how will they become successful readers?

As an author, I knew I had to do something. Therefore, I penned an unusual book series with African American males that are beginning readers as my audience. The Guardians of History is a sci-fi/historical book series about a family of mythical guardians that are charged with traveling back in time to ensure that certain moments in history take place. Key figures in African American history are highlighted in a historical fiction/science fiction format. I plan to pen more books in this series. I am excited about the impact of this series and the positive dynamic of the storylines.

Happy Reading!

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author   

Getting Girls Hooked on Reading

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

As a literacy advocate, learned a long time ago that the best way to get girls reading is to get them interested in a series book. Once they realize the joy of reading, they will seek out books they want to read independently. I highly recommend getting girls hooked on reading beginning in first grade through seventh grade. Series books are the best way to keep the fire lit on a child's desire to continue reading. For girls of color, the same rules apply. The issue is finding books they can read that reflect their images.


Happy Reading!

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children's Author

Black teen girls need voice in YA literature….

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

I love that there are at least five authors writing for black teen girls in the publishing industry. This is far more than what existed years ago when I was a child. However, it is just not enough. We need more authors, stories, and narratives that speak to the diversity of experiences of black teen girls. It is not until black girls complain about the lack of images, narratives, and availability of texts is when this is seen as a problem. The books just don’t exist on a large scale. Authors must continue to write a variety of fiction in order for black girls to engage in reading on a large scale. Also, the availability of those texts must remain a priority. Black girls must have voice in the literature in order to provide a more diverse and equitable view of their experiences.

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author

Positive black male characters are a must…

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

As a writer, I made a pledge to myself years ago. I vowed to create at least one book per year that featured a black male character as the main protagonist in the book. Why? Because when it comes to the children’s book literary world… black males are just invisible…

Sure there are occasional books here and there…

However, there has been no commitment to creating entire book series that feature African American males in abundance. I have searched high and low and out of the 400 series books that I found on the market. There are about two that include an African American male as the main character. I wrote three series which include African American male characters, and I will continue until the end of my career. Unless there is a concerted effort to create more books that feature diverse characters by authors and publishers…those books will never come to fruition.

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author  

Real experiences for real children

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

The hardest part about writing for children is making sure that I stay true to myself as a writer. I strongly believe in crafting stories that are realistic and speak to children’s experiences. I tried to make sure that I followed this thinking as I penned my installment about the rooftop club. At the time, I had never written a story from the perspective of the villains or in this case the bullies of the school. In this book, I attempted to include their perspectives and also to show what happens when bullies are reported. They don’t stop being bullies. They simply just retaliate and get worse. Many children go through this and don’t understand the language to communicate their experiences. It is my hope that children, parents, teachers, and caregivers see the importance of discussing this work. Diverse children need to read about diverse experiences.

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author