April and best friend Zee, both African American, live across the hall from each other in their Boston apartment building. An 11-year-old girl suffers a devastating loss when her best friend suddenly dies. 2021 A Denene Millner Book/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Edition. Finally, Kaija offers advice for aspiring children’s literature authors: know your audience (including the adults!), join the KidLit community, and tap into your inner child.Įpisode theme music: Black is the Night by Jeris (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. by Kaija Langley RELEASE DATE: June 6, 2023.

Though Kaija notes the strides children’s publishing has made over the decades, she highlights the need for children’s books to celebrate and showcase Black humanity-kids just being kids-and not restrict options to historical or one-dimensional texts. When Langston Dances by Langley, Kaija Book The Cheap Fast Free Post New Book Item Weight. In addition, Kaija and Alexia look back at the books available to Black children, noting the lack of options and variation in subject matter. When Langston Dances written by Kaija Langley, illustrated by Keith Mallett. In the episode, Kaija describes her journey to becoming an NAACP Image Award–nominated author, including the mentorship, inspiration, and kismet she encountered along the way.

For the final episode of TIE’s spring semester series, Kaija Langley, author of children’s book When Langston Dances, joins Toward Inclusive Excellence editor in chief Alexia Hudson-Ward to discuss diversity in children’s literature.

When Langston Dances by Kaija Langley