Interview with Children's Author tonya Bolden

摘要

The idea for this interview came to me during a visit Tonya Bolden paid to my students in the college program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Westchester County, New York. During the summer of 2007 I taught a course on multicultural children's literature, and we read and discussed many of Bolden's books. The students, most of whom were African American and most of whom had children on the "outside" being cared for by relatives or friends, were "blown away" by her books. "Why weren't there books like this when I was growing up?" one of them asked Tonya. This led to a conversation of such seriousness and importance that one of the women later told me she was unable to sleep that night. Another woman said of Tonya, "She listens as carefully as she speaks."