Category Archives: Diversity

Plan Your Month Roundup: November Books

Can you believe it’s almost November? The autumn season is officially underway which means the holidays are right around the corner! Plan out your month with these book recommendations and resources to get you ready for the holiday season!
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25 Books from 25 Years: Tankborn

25 Year Anniversary posterLEE & LOW BOOKS celebrates its 25th anniversary this year! To recognize how far the company has come, we are featuring one title a week to see how it is being used in classrooms today and hear from the authors and illustrators.

Today, we are celebrating Tankborn by Karen Sandler. First published in 2011, Tankborn was one of the original launch books for our Tu Books Imprint, which publishes diverse middle grade and young adult literature. Since its launch, Tu has published nearly 20 titles for older readers featuring diverse characters, stories, and worlds. Tu Books also established the New Visions Award, an annual writing contest for unpublished authors of color (and today is the deadline for submitting your manuscript!). Continue reading

Interview: Recognizing Mexican Contributions to WWII History

school the aztec eagles builtThe School the Aztec Eagles Built: A Tribute to Mexico’s World War II Air Fighters, which comes out in November, is the story of Mexico’s Air Fighter Squadron 201, also known as the Aztec Eagles. After two Mexican oil tankers were torpedoed by German U-boats, Mexican president Ávila Camacho sent the Aztec Eagles to the United States to help fight. One of the last requests of Squadron 201 crew member and former schoolteacher Ángel Bocanegra was to have a school built in his small hometown. Continue reading

What Diversity Means to Me: Lee & Low Staff Share Their Thoughts

Thanks to movements such as We Need Diverse Books, #1000BlackGirlBooks, and vocal authors, writers, and readers, the conversation regarding diversity in children’s books has gained more traction. Studies such as the Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s Publishing Statistics on Children’s Books and our Diversity Baseline Survey have helped to supplement these conversations, highlighting the need for more representation in children’s literature. We’re starting to see more stories that represent people from different backgrounds and different ways of life, and stories with protagonists and heroes that finally look like us. Here at LEE & LOW BOOKS, our mission is to publish children’s books about everyone and for everyone. So today, LEE & LOW staff share the impact and importance of diversity and what diversity truly means to them.

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Celebrating 25 Books Over 25 Years: Yummy

Lee and Low 25th anniversaryLEE & LOW BOOKS celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and to recognize how far the company has come, we are featuring one title a week to see how it is being used in classrooms today. Today, we are featuring our award-winning graphic novel, Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty. Continue reading

The Carle Honors Recognizes LEE & LOW BOOKS

Photo Credit: Johnny Wolf Photography
Photo Credit: Johnny Wolf Photography

On September 28th, The Carle Museum hosted The Carle Honors Annual Benefit Gala  in New York City. The Carle Honors is “the Museum’s annual benefit gala. At the heart of the Honors are four awards celebrating individuals whose creative vision and dedication are an inspiration to everyone who values picture books and their role in arts education and literacy.” This year, Lee & Low Books, represented by publisher Jason Low, was one of the four honorees recognized at The Carle Honors. Below are author Gregory Maguire’s remarks on the work and legacy of Lee & Low Books.
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An Alternative History Book List

This week, in acknowledgement of Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we are offering a series of blog posts that look at pieces of history that have been hidden, silenced, altered, or swept under the rug. Today we would like to share eight of our alternative history titles. Continue reading

Interview: Shana Mlawski on the History Surrounding Christopher Columbus

Hammer of Witches cover imageIn Hammer of Witches fourteen-year-old bookmaker’s apprentice Baltasar, pursued by a secret witch-hunting arm of the Inquisition, joins Columbus’s expedition to escape and discovers secrets about his own past that his family had tried to keep hidden. In this BookTalk, Shana Mlawski shares her views on Christopher Columbus, working with students and what she’d wish for if she had three wishes.

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Plan Your Month Roundup: October Holidays

The weather is crisp and the leaves are starting to change color…it must be fall! Now that we’ve made it to October, we wanted to help you plan out the month with these book recommendations and resources: Continue reading

Resources for New Writers on Publishing and Craft

If you’re a new writer, looking for ways to publish a book can be daunting. It’s great that we live in a time where there’s a wealth of information at our fingertips, but a simple Google search may not get you the results that you’re looking for. So where should a writer go to find resources on how to get published as well as resources on craft?

Below we’ve compiled a list of websites, interviews, and blog posts from our very own editors that discuss writing and the publishing industry. We hope these resources serve as a starting point for any budding writer embarking on their very first writing journey.

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