Posts from Blog - Soaring '20s for 02/17/2022
Blog - Soaring '20s
Excerpts:
Statement of Solidarity
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We, the Soaring ’20s Picture Book Collective, are united with the Black Lives Matter Movement.
We grieve with you. We are outraged with you. We understand that words and actions are required to fight with you.
Because we are a diverse group of creators, we directly state that our nonBlack and white members have the responsibility to eradicate police brutality and systemic racism first and foremost. Those of us with privilege will use their voices and resources to support, defend, and protect the human rights of the Black community.
We demand the prosecution of the police officers who murdered George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others. We demand the prosecution of ex-police officer Travis McMichael and his son Gregory McMichael for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
We demand that the lives of freedom fighters, the protestors who are risking their lives and livelihoods to rise up against police brutality and systemic racism and oppression, are respected and protected.
We pledge to:
Listen to Black voices.
Speak up and fight against anti-blackness in our own families and our own communities of color.
Amplify Black creators by promoting their works.
Examine and be accountable for our own beliefs and actions, including how we benefit from systemic racism.
Educate ourselves about the brutal systemic racism Black communities have experienced for generations so that we can work for justice and become strong allies with the Black community.
Educate ourselves about the historic accomplishments and achievements of the Black community that have been ignored and erased.
Be present for Black joy. Celebrate Black accomplishments.
As parents, we will:
Talk with our children about racism, white privilege, and the role of informed, engaged citizens to make their voices heard and hold our government accountable. We will educate our children with #ownvoices literature and resources.
Examine and be accountable for our own beliefs around racism, white privilege, and white fragility.
Ensure our children have access to and are enriched and empowered by books by and about people of color and specifically, Black people, to study the history of racism in the United States and the history of Black resistance and perseverance We will provide our children with a full-range of works by BIPOC that represents a wide range of experiences by BIPOC—not just tragedies—and a full range of genres.
Encourage our children’s schools to be actively antiracist.
Work with our families to create change. These actions may include
protesting,
signing petitions,
contacting legislators,
writing letters to the editor of newspapers,
donating money to causes supporting Black Lives Matter, and
voting in federal, state, and local elections, and making informed choices.
As educators, we will:
Decolonize our classroom bookshelves and curricular book lists,
Commit ourselves to promoting the ideals of racial equality with action,
Encourage engaging in activism and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. (Resource: https://www.tolerance.org)
As writers, we will:
Read, review, and promote books by Black creators,
Actively support the inclusion of marginalized voices on panels at children’s book conferences,
Only attend conferences that create safe spaces for the Black community,
Have sensitivity readers to ensure our work is antiracist,
Work for full inclusion in the publishing community using whatever resources we have at our disposal.
Words without action are performative and unacceptable.
Please join us in our fight against systemic racism and oppression with action. These actions must permeate our daily lives and guide our paths forward now and for the rest of our lives to save Black lives and to preserve the Black community’s human right to life with liberty and happiness. We have created a living document with full awareness of its insufficiency and vow to revisit and update it.
Resources
Kwame Alexander has organized a Kidlit Rally for Black Lives hosted on The Brown Bookshelf's Facebook Live. Thursday, June 4, at 7 PM Eastern.
Template for Holding Your Employer Accountable for Racial Justice by Rachel Cargle
SLJ Day of Dialog video: Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds discuss Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
List of Black-owned independent bookstores compiled by LitHub
Organizations
Reading lists for kids
“Because Several Folks Keep Asking for a Reading List for Children (0-12)” by Sujei Lugo Vázquez and Alia Jones
Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham (picture book)
Black Children’s Books and Authors (BCBA), books by categories
Books to explaining racism and protest to your kids from The New York Times
Reading list for adults
Anti-Racist Reading List from Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Resources for Talking about Race, Racism and Racialized Violence with Kids from Center for Racial Justice in Education
Talking Race with Young Children from NPR
Resources for Having Difficult Conversations with Youth from Partnership for Afterschool Education
Articles
Resources for White People to Learn and Talk About Race and Racism
The 1619 Project, The New York Times Magazine
Documentaries
The Central Park Five by Ken Burns, David McMahon, and Sarah Burns
Websites
Talking about Race, a resource from the National Museum of African American History & Culture
Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages (Dr. Nicole A. Cooke, University of South Carolina)
The Guide to Allyship by Amelie Lamont
Dr. Robin DiAngelo Critical Racial & Social Justice Education
Mental Health Resources
Happy Book Birthday, Invent-a-Pet!
By Vicky Fang
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My debut picture book, INVENT-A-PET, illustrated by Tidawan Thaipinnarong, launches on June 2 from Sterling Children’s Books!
INVENT-A-PET tells the story of Katie, an ordinary girl who longs for an extraordinary pet—something more spectacular than a simple goldfish. One day, Katie comes home to find a gift from her mother: a mysterious machine designed to help her create that one-of-a-kind creature. Each time she feeds different items into the machine, out comes a marvelously colorful new animal—like a purple monkey, rainbow-spotted horse, and green bunny! But none of them is just right. Through trial and error, Katie figures out the formula for her absolutely perfect SURPRISE pet.
Why I Wrote It
I started writing children’s books to inspire and empower kids in STEAM (science, tech, engineering, art, and math), particularly girls and minorities. I’m a former product designer, and I’ve had so much fun creating things like DIY robots, buildings that play music, and interactive storybooks. For me, technology is magical, and I want kids to be able to see that too!
The Idea
If you asked me where the idea for INVENT-A-PET came from, I would have a hard time telling you.
The most direct answer is this: I keep a long list of random story ideas on my phone. At some point, I jotted down “mixed up animals” and at another point, I jotted down “Louisa’s Magnificent Mixing Machine.” One day, on an airplane flight (my favorite place to write), I thought to combine these two disconnected ideas, and the first draft of INVENT-A-PET was born!
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But the thing is … if I look back through my life, some idea of pet mixing machines has been there for a long, long time. As a designer of kids’ experiences, often combining technology and education, mixed-up pets have dipped in and out of my consciousness many times before.
The first time that I have a record of it is in 2002, when I was in graduate school studying for my MFA in Design and Technology at Parsons School of Design in NYC. I was working with fellow students on a children’s educational software project. We created a game called PetSet that allowed you to create mixed-up pets by dragging and dropping different icons into a simple animated machine.
The next memory that I have is from 2003 or 2004, when I was working as a game designer at a small independent game design studio called Large Animal Games. We built an online game that created funny, mixed up dogs through a wacky machine.
And most recently, in 2017, I was working as a designer on kids’ experiences at Google, many of which were geared toward inspiring and empowering kids in STEAM. When I told a co-worker about my story, she said, “Oh, like Sound Pet.” I hadn’t made the connection, but at that very moment, I was the creative lead on a kids’ game that let you take care of a virtual mixed-up pet.
I’m sure there are probably more examples. Somehow, this idea was always close to me. That may sound like a strange thing to say about a wacky pet-mixing machine that teaches you STEAM concepts … and yet, it’s true. When they say, “Write what you know,” you may be surprised at what that might be!
The Takeaway
As I get deeper into my writing career, I’m finding that the ingredients that went into INVENT-A-PET hold true for my other books as well. Let’s take a look at those ingredients—or, rather “inputs,” as Katie would have us say!
Usually, I find that a single idea isn’t rich enough to make a strong story. I often need to combine two or more ideas to add depth.
I also need to be able to pull from a bench of rich experiences—which for me, so far, has been related to STEAM inspiration for kids.
And then, after all that, it’s about writing a great story. Impossibly simple, right? (Or is that simply impossible?)
That, my friends, is my perfect formula for an extraordinary story. I hope this is somehow helpful to you on your quest for yours!
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I am so excited to share INVENT-A-PET with the world, and looking forward to many more books to come.
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Book Details
INVENT-A-PET
by Vicky Fang, Illustrated by Tidawan Thaipinnarong
Pub Date: June 2
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3381-6
Publisher: Sterling Children's Books
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Vicky Fang is a product designer who spent five years designing kids’ technology experiences for both Google and Intel, often to inspire and empower kids in coding and technology. Through that work, she came to recognize the gap in education and inspiration, particularly for girls and minorities. She began writing books to provide kids with accessible STEAM-inspired stories that they can read again and again, learning from characters they love. Her goal for her books is to inspire computer literacy for a wide range of kids—while letting their imaginations run wild with the possibilities of technology! Her debut books, LAYLA & THE BOTS (Scholastic early chapter book series) and INVENT-A-PET (Sterling picture book), are launching in Spring/Summer 2020 and feature courageous and innovative girls in STEAM. You can find Vicky on Twitter @fangmous or at her website www.vickyfang.com.