When I was nine years old, a family friend who was an artist received a commission to illustrate a book for celebrated children\u2019s author Jacqueline Woodson. My parents had met the artist when he had his first show in Philadelphia and remained friends with him over time. After I was born, he started illustrating children\u2019s books and eventually he asked me if I wanted to be the model for one of the main characters, Annie, in Woodson\u2019s book The Other Side<\/i>. My mother (who was also illustrated in the book) and I spent an afternoon at a horse farm in rural New Jersey with the other girls pictured in the book, climbing over fences, jumping rope, and splashing through mud puddles.<\/p>\n
The book is about the friendship between two young girls in the segregated south. When the book was published a year later, I participated in a reading at a local bookstore with the illustrator and the other young girl featured in the book. Over the years, I have enjoyed watching the awards and acclaim the book has received. Imagine my surprise when, one day, I saw it featured in the Children\u2019s Section of Bowdoin\u2019s Hawthorne and Longfellow Library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was nine years old, a family friend who was an artist received a commission to illustrate a book for celebrated children\u2019s author Jacqueline Woodson. My parents had met the artist when he had his first show in Philadelphia and remained friends with him over time. After I was born, he started illustrating children\u2019s … <\/p>\n