Do you remember your favorite book as a child? Can you recall the first time you saw yourself reflected in a book? If you are Black and born before the early 2000s, then there may have been a long period before you saw Black or brown characters in a book specifically for kids.
It’s mainly the reason why I — a voracious reader coming of age in the 1990s – traded in “The Baby Sitter’s Club,” “Sweet Valley Twins” and books from Judy Blume for “Waiting to Exhale”, “Jazz”, and Iceberg Slim novels, while also relating to the stories told in rap music instead. There weren’t that many books about Black kids and Black life and I had already read the ones that did exist, twice.
That is no longer the case and today we have events like the Black Children’s Book Fair, that was held on Sunday, Feb, 23 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at ThirdSpace Action Lab in the Glenville neighborhood.
Lyndhurst resident Shardae Webb, mom of two and author of “I See Me in the ABCs,” had the idea to bring local Black children’s authors together in one space to help kick-off the start of Black Children’s Book Week (BCBW) (Feb. 23 through March 1), her Read-A-Thon, and as a way to help promote childhood literacy in the community.
“Black Children’s Book Week is a whole movement,” Webb explains.
Held the last Sunday in February since its founding in 2022 by Veronica N. Chapman, BCBW is a global celebration of Black children and the power of representation in children’s books. It also celebrates the contributions and talents of Black authors and illustrators, which is how Webb got involved.
Bringing the book fair to Cleveland came to Webb after participating as a sponsor in the Black Children’s Book Museum, “a shoppable virtual museum of Black representation” that showcases images of books and products parents can buy. Webb reached out to ThirdSpace Action Lab to help bring Black kids, creators, and publishers together – a first of its kind event – to Cleveland.
The event was a success with over 12 local children’s author vendors participating. The small space was at capacity with about 100 attendees. Parents, grandparents, caretakers, educators and kids all got a chance to meet with the authors, participated in arts-and-crafts stations and there were pauses for storytime throughout the day.
Before reading from her book “Dude! What’s That Smell?,” author Ashley B., from Lee and Harvard, had participants stop by her table and play a game where they had to sniff different scents and guess what they were. The winner took home a copy of the rhyming book about a mysterious odor written by her, illustrated by her daughter and dedicated to her son.
“You gotta breathe through the nose,” Ashley B. said of the interactive book where the main character looks familiar to young Black readers. “Literacy levels are low in our community and if we see more of ourselves in media, we think more highly [of ourselves].”
Literacy and representation was the theme of the day with other participating authors like Amon Aten from Glenville. He read excerpts from his book, “Colin’s Amazing Short Stories for ME,” a 10-story collection about the journeys and adventures of a boy named Collin, through which children can learn life lessons through fun. Some of the stories teach about Black history, teamwork, respect, and courage, and include instructions on how to shoot a basketball and plant a garden.
“We remember things we relate to, so I wanted to inspire, educate and entertain children because they are the future and need positive direction,” Aten said.
“It was a good turnout,” said Sean Clark, marketing director at ThirdSpace. “Everyone was engaged and readers were a priority.”
Clark understands the importance of early childhood literacy stating that he and his wife read about three books a night to their 3-year old son Cassius. “Mostly cause he doesn’t want to sleep, but also to get him in the habit of getting a book.”
Early childhood literacy is more important than ever, as Cleveland continues to grapple with low literacy rates and inclusive literature is often the target of politicization. All this, plus an interest in a healthier diet, led Webb to self-publish her first book in 2021, “I See Me in the ABCs,” a colorful interactive book featuring fruits and veggies as a way to subtly promote healthy eating at an early age.
Webb grew up in East Cleveland and graduated from Shaw High School. She was inspired to write her book after hand-making her daughter’s baby food in 2018. She had become aware of metals and preservatives used in certain foods and wanted to ensure a healthy diet for her child. A passion for healthy eating grew and Webb thought about creating a line of baby food but decided to take it a step further by sharing creative teaching methods with other parents during the pandemic.
“I See Me” isn’t your typical A for Apple, C for Carrot alphabet book — instead, it’s vibrantly illustrated fruits appear as characters with names like Anton the Avocado, Niam the Nectorine, or Trayvon the Tomato (named in honor of Trayvon Martin) and not-so-commonly named fruits and veggies like the xigua melon (the Chinese word for watermelon) and zucchini are featured. Most importantly, the characters rock curly hair puffs, fancy fades and braided and twisted styles similar to their readers.
Kids who participated in the coinciding Read-A-Thon (Feb. 23- March 1) not only got a chance to win gift cards from Amazon and ThirdSpace, but the grand prize was to become a character in Webb’s next book. It’s why showing up as an author and reading in the schools is important to Webb.
“Children look like they’ve seen a ghost when they find out I’m the author,” she says proudly. “I love seeing their faces and eyes light up.”
Webb thought the authors were very well received and acknowledged the fair as a way to highlight career paths for youth after listening to feedback from the schools.
“Black authors and illustrators are on the rise and educators now want books with Black boys as the main characters. A high percentage of authors are women,” she said.
Cleveland Heights resident Ashley White brought her 13-year-old son LaDon Tripp to the book fair, equipped with a list of questions to ask the authors.
“My son is an artist,” White said. “We were talking and the algorithm popped up (on Instagram). I told him it can be networking for you — he can draw and illustrate action figures. I want him to tap in.”
Khalana Clarke, 13, of Euclid said, “I loved the book fair because writing is important and it was great to see all the Black writers.”
Clarke and her little sister Jay’Oir attended and purchased a signed copy of “Walking in Ava’s Shoes” by Kathy Howard Primes which tells the story of a young girl’s struggles and success with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
“It related to me even though I don’t have ADHD because Ava has a lot of thoughts and gets distracted easily,” Clarke said.
The first Black Children’s Book Fair was a success for the community and it can only get bigger. “We wanted to make sure that we had a platform for them that was not just story time,” Clark said.
He sees the event as a stepping stone for future book-related events at Thirdspace like a larger indie Black author showcase around Juneteenth this year.
Click the link for more info on Children’s Black Book Week and the Read-A-Thon and visit here to find out about ThirdSpace’s upcoming events and programs.
This story was published in partnership with The East Clevelander Magazine.
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