Who is sharon flake

Publishing houses are establishing imprints that reflect the diversity of this nation. America can be fickle, however. We dive in deep one day and come up for air the next, and forget at times why we went in the pool at all. My hope is that we will stay the course, but speed things up in terms of publishing more African-American authors and illustrators and other diverse groups.

There are voices still to be discovered, stories still to be written. We are not all the same, which is the beautiful thing about being human. Yet at night, on the roof, he is fearless. Building rocket ships and imagining himself on the moon, he has all the tools to save himself. But will he? For more information about Sharon, go to sharongflake. Flake to the WNDB blog today! Where did your childhood books come from? What are you working on now?

Happy Diwali to our followers! May your celebratio. Calling all public high school seniors! She lives in Pittsburgh at the time of this writing. Sharon G. Flake was born on December 24, , in Northern Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Flake grew up in a tight-knit family with six children.

Flake's mother scrubbed floors for a living, and her father worked for Philidelphia Gas Works, having moved to Philadelphia after experiencing Jim Crow prejudices in the South. Flake attended the University of Pittsburgh at just seventeen years old, majoring in medicine. After taking several medical classes, Flake switched her major three times before becoming an English major.

Post-graduation, a writing insecurity from early in life remained, particularly about her grammar and spelling, so she decided to work in a social services agency.

She was the Director of Public Relations for the University of Pittsburgh's business school by the time she turned thirty years old. For fifteen years, while working full-time in this position, Flake submitted short stories and articles to publishers, each of which was rejected. This book, awarded the Coretta Scott King Award in , is still widely celebrated as giving voice to common adolescent struggles with self-image.

Flake continued to create stories about realistic characters, typically African American adolescents, using colloquial language. Flake's books have become extremely popular with middle- and high-school students. There are so many boys speaking their own truths in this novel, that I think it will spark all sorts of conversations in school, church, at home and community centers. Every word you write should be read out loud, no matter how many times you re-write. Be present. I never know what is going to happen in a short story or novel.

I am as surprised to know what will happen at the bottom of the first page or second, as any other reader. If you can suspend your mind and follow your gut than your writing will be fresh and your stories will have their own unique flavor. If I did, some people would have to disappear:- Mums the word. People will just have to watch and see. I look forward to reading a book that is boy-positive, for sure!

I loved it and loved the fact that there was someone out there writing books for and about my brown child. As a girl who grew up with a single mom I always felt boys were such a mystery. I hope this book really does give us an inside look at the male mind. I have a few boys and girls in my life who would enjoy this read. Flake is an amazing author. Look forward to reading her latest. Thanks for this feature!

I would really like to read it. It has a powerful and attractive premise and cover! I have just finished the book The Skin Im In. Beginning her writing career while working in public relations, Sharon G. Flake has become noted for her novels geared for African-American teens, particularly teen girls. In The Skin I'm In , thirteen-year-old Maleeka Madison is a bright student who is taunted for her excellent grades, her dark complexion, and the fact that her clothes are handmade rather than in-fashion clothes from the mall.

Although Maleeka tries to fit in by hanging out with Charlese, the toughest girl in the school, the teen's life changes after Ms.

Saunders becomes her new English teacher. Although Maleeka at first joins in the taunts that are directed toward the woman, whose face is disfigured by a large birthmark, she rethinks her actions when Ms.

Saunders publicly praises Maleeka's writing and encourages the girl to enter a writing contest. Booklist reviewer Hazel Rochman noted that Flake's "characters are complex," while a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "those identifying with the heroine's struggle to feel comfortable inside the skin she's in will find inspiration here.

Money Hungry focuses on thirteen-year-old Raspberry Hill, who lives with her always-working mother in a housing project.