This is an insulting review from a major publication (@WSJ) by a very problematic reviewer, Meghan Cox Gurdon. So I’d like to review her review as an example of the “classical narrative tact” she was looking for in my book. The first indication that this review has not gone through any sort fact-checking protocol is its inaccurate use of the word “Afro-Caribbean”. Nowhere in the novel are any of the characters referred to as Afro-Caribbean.

Ok. I'll get this off my chest. So this is for those who are still in the querying trenches. Story time! So. The very last time I cried about getting rejected... #ShareYourRejections ...was actually for a contest. I didn't win Tu Book's New Vision Award. It was the first contest specifically for diverse sci-fi/fantasy middle grade or YA. I was doing an MFA & I was exhausted. I mean, sick & tired of the whole querying process.

Every school & library visit I've done this past year, I have them do this:

1. Raise your hand & wave from side to side if you were born in another country. Now look around.

2. ...if at least one parent was born in another country.

3. ...a grandparent, great-grandparent... I have them look around the room each time a new set of people raise their hands. I tell them that I'm trying to see if everyone in the room will raise their hand. Most times, yes.

Thank you @LatinxinPub & @Sj_Fennell for acknowledging my Afro-Latinidad. Latin America includes Spanish-, French-, & Portuguese-speaking countries. So Haiti is technically a Latin country, so is Brazil. Latin languages = Romance languages, which also includes Italian.

I absolutely love that #BlackPanther is bringing Pan-Africanism into the national dialogue. This is the hill I'll die on so I'm gonna share some things & connect them to children's books & education. THREAD! Pan-Africanism, to me, means connecting to the struggles of people of African descent all over the globe. Not limiting awareness to just American racial politics.