Brandy Colbert is known for works such as "Little & Lion," which won the Stonewall Book Award, "The Only Black Girls in Town," and "Pointe". Meanwhile, her nonfiction book about the Tulsa race massacre, "Black Birds in the Sky," won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award.
Going down internet rabbit holes and discovering everything there is to know about random subjects is a relaxing way to spend an evening, according to Brandy Colbert. This passion for research is part of the secret sauce that helps her build such real and deep characters in her fiction work. And in turn, in her nonfiction work, her ability to bring depth to the real people in the story is what brings fact to life.
Today, Brandy brings all of those skills together to write gripping, detail-oriented, character-driven fiction and nonfiction stories.
In this episode, she tells us where she developed and honed her research skills, how she brings characters to life, and why a character by any other name is just…. not the same character
In Brandy’s reading challenge, Powerful Nonfiction, she wants us to discover moving and powerful storytelling in nonfiction books.
Today’s Beanstack Featured Librarian is Cindy Philbeck, a teacher librarian at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. She told us a heartwarming story about a student discovering Sabaa Tahir's "All My Rage".