"I am not drawn to the pulpit—it is the podium that inspires me. And from my podium I write up, not down, to readers. I write about, although obviously not exclusively for, black teenagers. And contrary to what appears to be conventional wisdom, I see no problem evoking both T.S. Eliot and Missy Elliot, lacrosse and basketball, buggin’ out and Sturm und Drang, pumpkin soup and BBQ spareribs, and generally whipping up a rich unibrow mix of do-rags, private schools, collard greens, blazers, hoodies, Bill Clinton, rap music, Basquiat, ya mama jokes, Harlem redstones, violin adagios, housing projects, three-story Colonials, baggy jeans, Dostoyevsky, graffiti, and flaming calla lilies."
Janet McDonald (1954-2007) author of Brother Hood, Spellbound and others.
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#kids books
#African American
#YA fiction
#diversity
