On Nov. 1 The Brown Bookshelf was officially launched by young adult authors Paula Chase and Varian Johnson, illustrator/author Don Tate, and children's books authors Carla Sarrat and Kelly Starling Lyons.  The Brown Bookshelf's mission is to let parents, librarians, teachers and others know about the wonderful black authors and books they've written for children.    

According to the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC), less than two percent of children's books published last year were written by African American authors. Want the raw numbers? That's just 87 children's books by African-American authors out of an estimated 5,000 children's books published in 2006 overall.

"When author Kyra E. Hicks shared that statistic on her blog and the African American Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (AACBWI) yahoo! listserv, I was shocked. I felt blessed to be a published, African-American children's book author, but saddened that there were still so few of us in print," says Lyons.  

On the same day of the site's launch, The Brown Bookshelf also announced its first campaign: 28 Days Later (no, not the movie), an initiative to celebrate some of the best voices in African-American children's literature and shine a light on new African-American authors and good books that are being overlooked.

Each day in February, The Brown Bookshelf will feature a different book and African-American author on our website.  The campaign will culminate Feb. 29 with a day of giveaways and announcements of future programs.

The Brown Bookshelf is also taking recommendations of African-American authors offering the best in picture books, middle-grade and YA reads until Dec. 1. Please nominate your favorite books and authors here, and spread the word.

Paula Chase is the author of DON'T GET IT TWISTED (Kensington Publishing Corporation), scheduled to be released this December; Varian Johnson is the author of MY LIFE AS A RHOMBUS (Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd.), slated for release early next year; illustrator/author Don Tate most recently illustrated I AM MY GRANDPA'S ENKELIN (Paraclete Place) by Walter Wangerin; children's books author Carla Sarrat most recently authored FRESHMEN FOCUS: CARTER G. WOODSON HS (Outskirts Press);  and Kelly Starling Lyons is the author of ONE MILLION MEN AND ME (Just Us Books).

NOTE: In other news, this week's discussion of Edwidge Danticat's memoir BROTHER, I'M DYING will be a day late (but never a dollar short).  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused your reading schedule.  Stay tuned, and we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow bright and early. 

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