My list of August releases was a bit late, so I spent my weekend pulling together titles releasing over the next two months. I’ve really worked to keep that up, despite how busy I get, because there are so few sources that highlight the work of BIPOC authors. The blogs seem to come and go. While Instagram and TikTok are popular sites, they’re good for highlighting a single title moreso than existing as a dedicated resource.

I’ve been doing this here on this site for just over 18 years. After I began, I eventually formed a community with Ari, Doret, Zetta, Nathalie, Susan, Debbie, and Neesha and that grew and grew to more people that I dare to try and name. Back then, I’d just begun my career as a high school librarian and I had the hardest time finding books and resources for the Black and brown students in the high school where I was working. So, I decided to do something about it: I blogged about what I could find.

I also found the systemic practices that marginalize stories from traditional publishing, and I found the scholars, librarians, educators, authors, editors, illustrators, and publishing reps who were making a difference. I found stories to share, voices to uplift, practices to question and disrupt, and I found moments of joy. I wish I could say that children’s publishing has changed as much as I have over the past 18 years, but the publishing industry is embedded in systems that difficult to penetrate and slow to evolve.

Thanks to Kathy Ishizuka and the people at School Library journal, I’m continuing to evolve: I’m shifting to a new blog at School Library Journal. I can’t quite let go if this blog, it will continue to maintain lists of BIPOC MG and YA authors and books. It will continue to exist as a resource. But, everything else will be on my new blog, Pearl’s & Ruby’s. I imagine it will be the same, but different. It’s just a blog, but it really was hard to come to the decision that I had to let go.

Thanks so much for being with me over the years. I hope you’ll join me over at SLJ.