On this Sunday evening, I want to give a huge shout-out to the educators and librarians who have shared with me how much their students love #TheHateUGive (and about all of the copies they've lost to said students 😂). Thank you providing my book to your students ❤️
I bring this up because yesterday at my keynote at the @msbookfest, an older older woman came up to me afterwards with the hugest smile. I immediately gasped. It was my elementary school principal.
She framed my face with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm prouder of you than you will ever know. I've been keeping up with you and telling every person who crosses my path about you."
I had to thank her. When I was a student in her school, whenever I finished my lessons, my teachers would always either let me read books or write stories while everyone else finished up. She saw this while observing one of my classes.
But she also noticed that a lot of the books didn't feature kids who looked like me or my classmates. My principal contacted a company who made personalized books and fundraised so that every single kid in the school could have one
What I mean by personalized books - the main characters were named after us, our parents or guardians were the parents in the books, and our school, teacher, and principal were named
When I got that book it. Blew. My. Mind. You mean I could be a main character? I could be a hero??? I still have it haha
The seed she planted then helped put me where I am today. She also made sure every single classroom had a nice assortment of books. So educators, librarians, and principals, the work you do is important. I thank you now, and I hope that one day, your students thank you too.
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