(You can listen to this episode here.)
Keiana Mayfield, an assistant professor of social work at George Mason University and the Diversity in KidLit Advocate for East City Book Shop in Washington, D.C., joined us to discuss Gone Wolf by Amber McBride, which was published in 2023. Gone Wolf is the story of two girls named Imogen, one in a future racist dystopia and one in current-day Charlottesville, Virginia. We also talked about reading diversely: what it means, why it matters, what the publishing industry is doing well, and what it could be doing better.
Discussed in this episode:
Other books by Amber McBride:
The Leaving Room (Deborah’s interview with McBride about this book is here.)
Also mentioned.
East City Book Shop in Washington, D.C., where Keiana hosts the W(h)ine and Angst book club for adults and several book clubs for children
The Xenogenesis series by Octavia Butler, including Book 3, Imago
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Interviews with Amber McBride in Publisher’s Weekly and Virginia Living
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
We Need Diverse Books, an organization promoting diversity in children’s literature
About the B’Nai Bagels by E.L. Konigsberg
Recommended for fans of Gone Wolf:
Keiana: The Last Cuentista by Donna Barbra Higuera, winner of the 2022 Newbery Medal; Candace, The Universe, and Everything by Sherri L. Smith; Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga; The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez by Jasminne Paolino
Deborah: Candace, The Universe, and Everything by Sherri L. Smith (seconding Keiana’s recommendation; Deborah’s interview with Smith about this book is here); other books by Amber McBride
Other recommendations from Keiana: Rainbow Shopping by Qing Zhuang; The Village Beyond the Mist by Sachiko Kashiwaba; How to Walk a Dog by Joanne Levy
Other Rereading Our Childhood episodes mentioned:
Rereading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Rereading From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsberg
The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.
You can find Keiana at keianamayfield.com, Deborah at deborahkalb.com Mary Grace at My Life 100 Years Ago.
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.
Rereading Our Childhood 