Blog
Cover Reveal: A Poem for Dudley Randall: Poet and Publisher of the Black Arts Movement
I am thrilled to reveal the cover of my forthcoming picture book, A Poem for Dudley Randall, Poet and Publisher of the Black Arts Movement (Abrams, 2026). A Poem for Dudley Randall: Poet and Publisher of the Black Arts Movement ISBN: 978-1-4197-5435-7; Publication date: September 15, 2026; Abrams Dudley Randall’s first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free […]
Celebrating Prince: A Little Golden Book Biography
Author Nikki Shannon Smith and author-illustrator Don Tate, both members of the Brown Bookshelf team, created a new book! “Prince: A Little Golden Book Biography” (Random House Children’s Books) chronicles the life of the iconic musician Prince and highlights his boundary-breaking artistry, fearless self-expression, and enduring influence on music, fashion, and culture. It is part of the Little Golden Book […]
TLA is back and in person!
Oh, my—I haven’t created a new blog post in six years! And Word Press has changed! I actually had to Google “How to create a blog post in Word Press.” Change never ends, I guess. But there is one change I do welcome: the Texas Library Association conference is back and in person! It’s been […]
Cover reveal!
After a long, sometimes treacherous, yet fulfilling journey, we have a cover! My next picture book biography, “Pigskins to Paintbrushes: The Story of Football-Playing Artist Ernie Barnes,” will publish with Abrams on August 17, 2021. That’s lightening fast by publishing standards, especially considering that I was still tweaking final art and text this time last […]
Banking on Booksellers
This summer, I painted a pig. No, not a real pig, a molded, clay, piggy bank. It’s for a fundraiser offered by BINC Book Industry Charitable Foundation. Over 90 authors, illustrators, and celebrities have come together to support the only nonprofit in the country that is dedicated to helping booksellers in times of hardship. Proceeds from […]
Summer Vacation + A New School Year and New Books!
It’s been quite a while since I’ve last posted. And I don’t have a good excuse, I’ve had most of the summer off. Over the summer, my wife and I celebrated our 25-year wedding anniversary in the Dominican Republic. We had such a fantastic time swimming in a large pool that wrapped the resort. We visiting […]
A photo recap of my time at Miami University’s art exhibit: Telling A People’s Story
What an honor is it to have my artwork included in a first-of-its-kind art exhibit, Telling A People’s Story: African American Children’s Illustrated Literature. The exhibit is being held at Miami University in Oxford, OH, through June 30th, 2018. In addition to exhibiting, I was invited to speak at a public event, and to university […]
Honoring the Super Women who Run the Brown Bookshelf
Last year, we at The Brown Bookshelf, a blog dedicated to highlighting youth literature written and/or illustrated by African-Americans, celebrated our tenth anniversary. This past February, Black History Month, we hosted our eleventh “28 Days Later” initiative. Each day, we featured an African-American creator of youth literature. As a founding member of that blog, I can tell […]
A “STRONG AS SANDOW” book launch celebration! A visual report
Yesterday, I held a book launch celebration for my new book, STRONG AS SANDOW: HOW EUGEN SANDOW BECAME THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH (Charlesbridge, 2017). We held it at BookPeople, Austin’s wonderful independent book store. Attendees described the day as: “Wowza,” “stupendous,” “fantastic.” And most of all, “STRONG!” After I spoke, raw food health guru, Andrew […]
Whoosh! is a A Cook Prize Honor Book and a Children’s Choice Nominee!
Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions (Charlesbridge, 2016), written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Don Tate is a 2017 Cook Prize Finalist. The Cook Prize honors the best science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) picture book published for children aged eight to ten and is the only national children’s choice award honoring a STEM book. […]