I am thrilled and honored to announce more book award news. A couple months ago, I shared that NO WORLD TOO BIG won the 2024 Green Earth Book Award – Intermediate Category. This month I have exciting news about two other books.
The National Science Teachers Association and the Children’s Book Council selected YUMBO GUMBO as one of the winning titles for their NSTA-CBC 2025 Best STEM Book list. Click here to find the full list of winning titles.
And the State Library of Ohio, the Ohioana Library Association with the Ohio Center for the Book, and the Choose to Read Ohio Advisory Council selected OPENING THE ROAD for the 2025 Choose to Read Ohio (CTRO) book list. The CTRO booklist features 20 titles for all ages selected by Ohio teachers, librarians, and other advocates for readers and reading. It’s in great company! Click here for a pdf of the titles.
I am beyond thrilled to see that OPENING THE ROAD continues to reach readers with every honor and recognition.
NO WORLD TOO BIG: YOUNG PEOPLE FIGHTING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE won two awards!
NO WORLD TOO BIG: YOUNG PEOPLE is the winner of the 2024 Green Earth Book Award in the Picture Book – Intermediate category! The Nature Generation gives the award. Here’s the cover sporting the 2024 Green Earth Book Award sticker. I missed last week’s virtual ceremony for that award because of travel, but Lindsay and Jeanette attended. We are so happy the book is reaching young readers!
It’s also the winner of the 2024 ILA Social Justice Literature Award in the Nonfiction Picture Book category. This award is from the International Literacy Association.
And the third bit of news…
Feliz cumpleaños del libro, El más gumbo delicioso! October is a month to honor and celebrate Louisiana Creole, Latino, Indigenous heritage and gumbo. YUMBO! Join me in welcoming the Spanish edition of Yumbo Gumbo to the world!
In March, we received news that NO WORLD TOO BIG was chosen as the winner of the 2024 Green Earth Book Award in the Picture Book – Intermediate category. The award celebration will take place virtually on Thursday, October 17, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, EST. The event is free to attend, although registration is required.
We are so honored to have our work recognized and hopefully encourage more youth to get involved!
NO WORLD TOO BIG: YOUNG PEOPLE FIGHTING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE is the recipient of the 2024 Green Book Earth Award in the Picture Book – Intermediate category from The Nature Generation!
We are so happy this book is reaching readers! And besides the winners and honors, there’s a long recommended reading list.
It was also a finalist for the Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World, part of the SCBWI Legacy and Impact fund.
April is poetry month and Earth Day is celebrated every April 22nd. But do you know about the Earth Month Ecochallenge? It runs from April 1 – April 30, 2024. This month, pledge to take action. The more who do, the greater the impact. From their website, “This year’s theme, “Conserving Every Ecosystem, Caring for Every Creature,” highlights the intersection of conservation and behavior change. By focusing on daily actions and continuous learning, we aim to create a sustainable and just world, not just for humans but for all species and ecosystems we rely on.”
Below is an activity for kids using NO WORLD TOO BIG, a perfect fit for April’s Poetry Month, the Earth Month Ecochallenge, and Earth Day on April 22nd. Click here or on the worksheet to download the template.
NO WORLD TOO BIG is a finalist for the Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World. This award is given by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Ilustrators (SCBWI) “to a work of nonfiction that contributes to our understanding of how to make our world and society better.”
See the full list of finalists on the @SCBWIIMPACT post on IG. The winner will be announced in March!
Lindsay, Jeanette and I are grateful to the youth who trusted us to tell their stories and the poets inspired to write about them.
Honored to see NO WORLD TOO BIG on Chicago Public Library’s Best Informational Books of 2023 list! And in such great company! Congratulations everyone! Follow this link to see the full list.
And I love to see it in libraries and bookstores, too!
A librarian friend shared this photo from the Wright Library in Dayton, Ohio
I am so excited to announce there’s a third poetry anthology featuring fourteen incredible young neurodivergent activists in the works! Once again, it is such an honor that these young people have trusted us with their stories. And I am thrilled to teamed up with the uber talented Lindsay H. Metcalf and Jeanette Bradley, too.
NO BRAIN THE SAME: Young Neurodivergent Activists Shaping Our Future will be on bookshelves in 2026!
Spending the morning with young readers and book lovers is something authors look forward to. Cover to Cover Children’s Books in Columbus, OH supports readers, writers, and illustrators, which is invaluable to book creatives and their communities.
Thanks to Bryan Loar, I had the pleasure of spending Saturday morning for their weekly storytime reading from NO WORLD TOO BIG. And Shelly from Green Columbus, a nonprofit focusing on the environment, talked about their work. See the video re-cap below.
April is Poetry Month and every April 22nd is Earth Day. For all you eco-warriors, this activity calendar using NO WORLD TOO BIG: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change is filled with ideas.
It’s almost tour time! Lindsay H. Metcalf, Jeanette Bradley and I are kicking off our NO WORLD TOO BIG book tour with my regional SCBWI Ohio Central-South chapter tomorrow, Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7pm/EST. Here’s the link if you’d like to register for this free event.
And we are all off to Washington, DC, where I will meet Lindsay and Jeanette in-person for the very first time after collaborating on two books together! Take that pandemic.
Then each of us will be on the road in different places to promote NO WORLD TOO BIG. Save the date if you’re in one of these cities on our tour. We’d love to meet you!
The Nerdy Book Club includes teachers and librarians extraordinaire who care about books, reading, and their students. It was an honor to contribute to their blog, where I shared ten current and forthcoming books about climate change for young readers. Because everyone can do something to fight global warming!
My co-editors, Lindsay H. Metcalf and Jeanette Bradley and I made this video, Discover Composting with NO WORLD TOO BIG!, when our publisher, Charlesbridge, invited us to take part in their Spring Preview ’23 book buzz event.
You can get a sneak peek at NO WORLD TOO BIG: YOUNG PEOPLE FIGHTING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE and learn how we compost.
NO WORLD TOO BIG is available for pre-order wherever books are sold. It will be on a shelf near you in March, just in time for Earth Day in April!
We’re celebrating Children’s Book Week on Twitter, May 3-9. To enter, reply to each author’s original tweet. US educators ONLY. Winner selected every 48 hours!
Check out our Twitter page, @ForGrowingMinds, where we will retweet but don’t forget to reply to the original author’s tweet. Join us!
“Dawson’s text makes a stark, complex topic accessible and comprehensible to younger readers.”
VERDICT A compelling picture book that introduces the history of segregation and its impact in the U. S. to young readers.–Hilary Tufo, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., Reynoldsburg, OH
From a presentation on OPENING THE ROAD, students learn:
-the untold story of Victor Hugo Green’s contribution to history, making it a great foray into lessons on equity and social justice for young learners
-how to make historical connections from the past text to today
-the vocabulary needed to understand complex concepts in the long road toward seeking social justice
-to use skills in cause and effect connecting historical events and their impact on Black Americans.
-how research is used to write fiction and nonfiction stories
WHAT I DO AT SCHOOL VISITS:
-Discuss the importance of stories about unsung heroes like Victor Hugo Green.
-Introduce concepts and vocabulary needed to understand the story.
-Read OPENING THE ROAD.
-Discuss research methods, obstacles, and my writing process.
-Share an activity to make a real life connection to the story.
Flipgrid Discovery Library: OPENING THE ROAD has topics for students to explore in the Discovery Library. Parents and educators can access videos, and mini lessons specific to the topics, content and vocabulary used in the book. Readers can watch and respond to the videos with their own recordings and writings! For privacy, teachers can copy this module into their own classroom Flipgrid sites.
ENDORSEMENTS:
“This intricately illustrated and inspiring book reveals the courageous spirit of Victor Hugo Green and reminds us that within us all lies the power to change the world.” —Oge Mora, author and illustrator of Thank You, Omu; Saturday; and The Oldest Student
“Opening the Road is a story of resilience in the Black American tradition of ‘making a way out of no way’–that is, challenging the limits of racism through ingenuity, community, and hope.” —Veronica Miller Jamison, illustrator of A Computer Called Katherine
“In Opening the Road, author Keila Dawson opens children’s eyes to the dangers of segregation and the power of the human spirit to resist and find detours around injustice.” –Nancy Churnin, award-winning author of Manjhi Moves a Mountain and The William Hoy Story
“This road trip into history detailing Victor Green’s efforts to bypass racial discrimination when traveling is a welcome companion to the stories of Rosa Parks and Elizabeth Jennings.” –Beth Anderson, author of Lizzie Demands a Seat and An Inconvenient Alphabet
So honored that The Classroom Bookshelf, an SLJ blog, wrote an extensive article on how to use NO VOICE TOO SMALL in the classroom to lift student voices! A great resource and extension to the book’s free activity guide.
Unboxing is popular among authors after receiving their author copies. So here’s my unboxing video of my new book releasing January 26, 2021!
OPENING THE ROAD: VICTOR HUGO GREEN AND HIS GREEN BOOK is the untold true story of the mail carrier who wrote the Green Book travel guides published from 1936 to 1966 that African Americans used to plan safe road trips & vacations when they didn’t have the freedom to go anywhere they wanted.
What an amazing day! Lindsay, Jeanette, and I planned a fun-filled virtual book launch for NO VOICE TOO SMALL. An Unlikely Story Bookstore agreed to host us. The anti-bullying activist featured in the book, DJ Annie Red, agreed to perform.
And the day finally arrived!
It started with book lovers sharing the news of our book birthday…
…on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Messages poured in. Friends, authors, our publisher, book reviewers, booksellers. All sending congratulations and praise.
All morning long!
We felt so much love for a book that so many poured so much heart into so it would be ready for this day, to be sent out into the world, and into the hands of children.
We even got a mention in the Washington Post! WOW!
At the book launch that evening, Lindsay, Jeanette and I spoke a bit about the book and thanked the the fourteen young activists, poets, our editor, art director and the our Charlesbridge team that were all a part of this project. We shared the opening and closing poems and one of the contributing poets, Lesléa Newman, read the poem she wrote about Zach Wahls. Jeanette demonstrated how she created the art for the book and drew a picture for us – live! DJ Annie Red performed an acapella version of her song “No You Won’t Bully Me”. Who had fun? WE DID!
We asked our audience to promise to use their voices and take the NO VOICE TOO SMALL pledge. Lindsay and Jeanette’s kids joined in!
So many friends, family, and creatives from the writing community came to our virtual event to support us. It was an unforgettable experience!
For weeks we noticed the “orange banner” on Amazon that designates a book as a #1 Release in a particular category which also compares and ranks books in the same categories.
The three Amazon categories for NO VOICE TOO SMALL are:
Children’s American History of 2000s
Children’s Social Activists Biographies (Books)
Poetry (Books)
On our book birthday, NO VOICE TOO SMALL became an Amazon Hot New Release in the category of Social Activists Biographies! But that’s not all.
Something else happened that didn’t involve sales or marketing or book promotion. Instead, someone helped make this night more special than it already turned out to be. Because it reminded me of why I write books for kids. And why this book matters.
The same day NO VOICE TOO SMALL released, a blog post Lindsay, Jeanette and I wrote for Reading For Research Month went live. We discussed books that inspired us.
In that post I wrote, “I have witnessed the power of story. It is undeniable.” Although I know that to be true, I didn’t know I would witness it on our book birthday. We may not know how or when or for whom books may affect, but we know the power of books. It’s undeniable! What a gift to see the reaction by Judy Adams to her featured story. Judy speaks UP about living with DOWN syndrome. At age twelve, she created Dimes for Down syndrome and grants wishes to others.
Kids need to see themselves in books. They want their stories shared. Adults can help empower, uplift, and amplify their voices.
Thanks to all for the support that made this a wonderful day for us and NO VOICE TOO SMALL.
Bank Street College of Education Best Books of the Year 2022 and with a for Outstanding Merit
Jane Addams Book Award Finalist 2021
New York Public Library Best Books for Kids 2021
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s Noteworthy Book for Young Readers 2021
So honored OPENING THE ROAD earned a for outstanding merit on the Bank Street College of Education 2022 Best Children’s Books of The Year list! Congratulations to Team Green!
School Library Journal subscribers can read their full review here.
“Dawson’s text makes a stark, complex topic accessible and comprehensible to younger readers.”
I am honored to see OPENING THE ROAD on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s Noteworthy Books for Young Readers list of Stories of Protest, Resistance, and Change!
This review of OPENING THE ROAD on by Lisa Browne on her COLORUL STORIES blog warms my heart! My objective in writing this story – achieved!
This 8th grade teacher created a lesson plan, Picture Books and the Green Book, to introduce her students to the Jim Crow era and recommended OPENING THE ROAD.
OPENING THE ROAD is the true story behind the Green Book guide Black Americans used to travel safely during legal segregation and the mail carrier who wrote it. I was honored to reveal the cover of my upcoming release on author Tara Lazar’s blog. Click on the cover to see a sample spread from the book by the talented artist Alleanna Harris.
I also wrote about my inspiration, the story behind the story, and a little about my road to publication.
BEEP! BEEP! On our way, be there January 26, 2021!
And there’s a GIVEAWAY! Comment on the blog post to enter a chance to win a copy of OPENING THE ROAD: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book.
for Outstanding Merit
