A learning and sharing community for
DC-area children’s literature professionals since 1945
The Ins and Outs of Bookselling
Please join us on November 20 at 11:30 a.m. at Busboys & Poets. Along with checking in with friends and a delicious lunch, the program consists of a panel of bookstore specialists who will cover how bookstores make decisions on children’s book purchases, how they go about organizing children’s author visits, and other valuable insider tips. Please note that as this is an in-person luncheon, payment and registration is due by November 16.
When: November 20, 2026
Where: Busboys & Poets at 450 K St NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. This location is also metro accessible. The closest stop is Gallery Place- Chinatown.
What time: Check-in starts at 11:30 a.m.
Registration LINK HERE: Please be sure to register and include your lunch choice (avocado, chicken, turkey, or falafel sandwich). We accept payment online. If you prefer to pay with a credit card instead of PayPal, click through the prompts and you will have the option of using a card of your choice.
VANESSA BRANTLEY NEWTON WOWS THE GUILD WITH HER ART!
Zoom Event 10/16/25
Vanessa Brantley-Newton was born during the Civil Rights era and grew up in Newark, NJ. The Snowy Day was the first book in which she saw herself, and she wants all children to recognize themselves in her own work. Vanessa wrote and illustrated Grandma’s Purse and Just Like Me, she illustrated We Shall Overcome by Debbie Levy. Vanessa’s sister, Coy, joined Vanessa in the presentation and talk.
Vanessa began by describing her parents being “freaked out” when she
said she wanted to be a children’s book illustrator. She described
drawing on the walls as a child and getting in trouble. “It was the way I
communicated,” she said. She is dyslexic and has synesthesia and also a
stutter. She said she’s trained herself to sing in her head as she speaks.
Reading, she said, takes her a long time.
Vanessa has been doing her art for 30 years now, and she loves what she does, but it hasn’t been easy—but, she added, she wouldn’t have it any other way. When you have to struggle for something, you tend to care for it a little bit more.
She described being the only Black student in the classroom, and her teacher having a look of disgust. The teacher said, “That name, Vanessa, that’s too big for you.” At age 5 or 6, Vanessa didn’t understand. The teacher ordered her to eat the oatmeal in front of her or she would stick Vanessa’s head into the fish tank. She was scared, and from then on got
Fs and Ds in school.
Vanessa never saw letters and numbers the way other
people did, and got through school by the skin of her teeth.
She never saw letters and numbers the way other people did, and got through school by the skin of her teeth.
One teacher, Mrs. Russell, who wore go-go boots, had an eye for children like Vanessa, and showed her The Snowy Day. At age 62, Vanessa still can’t get that book out of her mind. “It was the first time I
ever got to see myself in a children’s book.” Peter’s wallpaper was like the wallpaper in Vanessa’s house. The neighborhood looked like her neighborhood. Peter was “telling us you matter.” She described visiting the Jewish Museum and crying when she went to an exhibit of Ezra Jack Keats’s work. She never got to meet him, but connected with his work. She saw a letter in a box from Viking Press in
1963 asking why it was taking him so long to get the book done. The image of Peter came from a picture in Life magazine that Keats had kept for 22 years. The publisher was upset when they saw the character was a little Black boy. Keats said, “He should have been there all along.” Vanessa recalled having every culture in their house growing up. Her mom and dad were musicians and singers. Her mom was also a
phlebotomist, something Vanessa also did. They met all kinds of people at the hospital where they worked. “Sickness doesn’t care” who you are. Her mom would help veterans. “That stuck with me,” she said.
“Everybody deserves dignity.” She described going to FIT for school and being the only Black student,
and she recalled a teacher who had a big impact on her. “Is the only color you know shit brown?” the teacher asked, before knocking Vanessa’s easel over. Vanessa later drew a man who was hot under the
collar, and the teacher put it in the gallery. Then the teacher calledVanessa into her office and said there were not a lot of Black students and that other students could drink champagne and smoke weed but that
Vanessa had to work hard. She told her she was one of the most talented students but didn’t know it, and that she wouldn’t let her fail. Vanessa said she didn’t really understand the message until she was
about 41 years old and realized the teacher wasn’t cruel or mean, and that she appreciated this teacher.
She recalled her sister talking to her and asking “What do you want out of life?” Vanessa was in a dark place at the time. She said she wanted to draw and do children’s books, and started building her portfolio. She was using the money that was supposed to go toward food on art supplies. She said we all are vibrations. The word “spell,” she said, is exactly that. “When you’re saying negative things about what you do, you’re casting spells.” If you call a child dumb and stupid, they will think they are
dumb and stupid. Her sister was saying to feel it and enjoy it. Vanessa’s living room
became filled with artwork. A friend came over one day and put $400 in Vanessa’s hand for heat. The friend asked who had done all the artwork, and called it magnificent. The friend worked for Scholastic Books, and got Vanessa her first job illustrating another author’s work. “And the rest
was history.
Has it been a struggle? Vanessa asked. Heck yes. But what keeps hergoing is her faith and the “fact that I am a vibration and can change the vibe any time I choose.” It messes with our minds when we start
comparing ourselves to everyone else, she said. “I will not let anybody take away from me the hard work, the diligence.” She advised working with people who understand you. “I only want to share with those who want to hear from me,” she said. God “never created me to fit in, he
created me to stand out.” Vanessa led the group in making a collage, and answered some
questions. She described ordering paper and bringing paper back from trips to use in her art. She also noted that she’s working on several projects, including a book with Carlotta Walls, one of the Little Rock 9.
Vanessa also teaches at Storytelleracademy.com.
Guild Welcomes
Kwame Alexander And Dare Coulter for Signature Event
Author Kwame Alexander and illustrator Dare Coulter highlighted the Children’s Book Guild’s Signature Event on May 31—an event that also celebrated the Guild’s 80th anniversary. The Guild also remembered the late Roz Beitler, a member for many years, who honored the guild with a generous bequest.
In remarks to a crowd of several dozen people at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Coulter, who grew up in the D.C. area, said, “My favorite thing about art is how it reaches people.” Her slide presentation included not only her art for children’s books but also her public art, such as a mural in North Carolina on a site near where Black people were sold into slavery.
Coulter illustrated Alexander’s 2023 picture book An American Story, which won the 2024 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Book Award.
Alexander, a Guild member who appeared in conversation with Guild Vice President Caroline Brewer, recounted his successes—for example, winning the 2015 Newbery Medal for his middle grade novel in verse The Crossover—as well as lower moments in his career before The Crossover was published.
“It was all low, it was all necessary, and it was part of the journey,” he said.
Alexander, a longtime D.C. area resident, also gave credit to the Guild for supporting him along the way. “People give you seeds of encouragement, and you give…back to them,” he said.
At the conclusion of the program, which was moderated by Guild President Monica Valentine, the Guild presented Alexander with an original piece of Brewer’s art, depicting a sunflower and incorporating material relating to Alexander’s books.
By Deborah Kalb
DARE!
KWAME!
Youth Literacy Grants Announced
For the last eleven years, the Children’s Book Guild has awarded grants to schools to purchase books for their libraries, media centers, or classrooms. In 2025 we chose 6 schools: Cooper Lane Elementary School, in Prince George's County; and Malcolm X, Miner, Nalle, Savoy, and Turner Elementary Schools in Washington, DC. Each school will receive a grant of $500 to buy books from the First Book Marketplace.We are grateful to all the Guild members who made recommendations. Thank you to the librarians from these schools for making the book selections: Lanee Sheffield, Hannah Hong, Molly Murchie, Lisa Stephens, Kerri Redding, and Sherrell Tolbert.
We hope that all of these librarians will be able to join us at our Signature Event in May.
FIND US ON SOCIAL
The Children’s Book Guild of Washington, DC, is committed to the fight for racial justice and support for Black lives. Please click on the links above for information on organizations to support, and readings to help educate and inspire positive change.