Celebrated author Karen Good Marable talks about her debut children’s book ‘Yaya And The Sea’

The importance of positive books with black characters for black children, and albeit, for kids, is unquestionable – at the very least not here. We know the impact that reading funny, engaging, and even whimsical stories with individuals who appear like them can have on our youngsters. Telling our stories beyond conflict, hardship and trauma has unquestionable power, especially for young, precious minds. They are still being shaped and have an innocence and curiosity about the world that we regularly lose on the opposite side of middle school.

So once we heard that veteran wordsmith Karen Good Marable had created a children’s book about just a little girl named Yaya who visited the ocean with her mother and three aunts on the primary day of spring, we were greater than excited. Marable’s name has appeared in lots of books and publications, from , , and, in fact, . But more importantly, she is a mother, an aunt (each by blood and surrogate), a niece and an artist who has consciously focused on culture throughout her impressive twenty-year profession.

We got to discuss with the Prairie View, Texas resident about the magical day over 20 years ago that inspired her to jot down what her little daughter thinks of the book and the incontrovertible fact that, yes, the tooth fairy can – and does – stop by black children’s homes, too.

ESSENCE.COM: How long did it take you to jot down?

KAREN GOOD MARABEL: was originally a journal entry I wrote on an A train in 2001. My friends and I took the very same trip I describe within the book, and it was a bit Yaya too! I used to be moved by Yaya’s unexpected presence that day (my mother did not have a nanny) and I wrote the story through her eyes. (Yaya was five years old on the time). Fast forward to 2018; Denene Millner z Books by Denene Millner/Simon & Schuster Kids asks me if I’ve ever written a children’s book. I told her I had written a story with a baby in it, but I wasn’t sure if it was for kids. She said, “Let me read it.” I wrote it down – thank God I keep journals – and he or she loved it.

You’ve been a longtime editor, journalist and author for over twenty years, profiling celebrities from DMX to Lauryn Hill for canopy stories. How was the technique of writing this book different out of your previous work? And how was it the identical?

The technique of writing Yaya and the Sea was different in that the text and illustrations needed to work together. I needed to learn to not say or describe every part and as a substitute let the illustrations do what they were meant to do. One of the similarities between my previous work and writing is that it relies on a real story. This is me writing about my life. In recent years, my work has mainly consisted of private essays, poetry and memories, so Yaya is a continuation of this trend.

What was it like working with illustrator Tonya Engel on this project?

. Tonya Engel dropped at life! When I first saw her illustrations for the book, I cried. This is our first time working together and I’m honored that Denene and the ancestors have seen fit to bring us closer together. In terms of cooperation, there was no real contact between us. There might need been an occasional query about a scene within the book, like a New York subway or a bodega, but Tonya had clearly done her research. Her illustrations are paintings. Therefore, once I talk about an image book, I also mean an image book as a murals, something to be collected. Valuable. As a lovely book in your library. I view the work of Tom Feelings and Faith Ringgold in the same way.

One of the important thing elements of this book is how the Yaya aunties love her and one another. Was it vital to you to place that within the book – the love between girls and the love we give and receive as aunts?

This was very vital. Throughout my life, at every stage, there has all the time been a sisterhood, whether it was the coven of six girls I used to be born into growing up in Prairie View, Texas; my Wheatley Hall crew from the fourth floor at Howard University; or the sisterhood I joined in my early twenties while living in Brooklyn, Oya’s Elements. Oh, and I grew up with the very best aunt on the planet. My Aunt Nita (short for Juanita) is famous. Quintessential and irreplaceable. She is the role model aunt I hold for all my nieces and nephews, real and funny.

When I became a mother, I actually began to know the necessity for “auntie love.” My daughter all the time says, “Mom, I have lots of aunts!” That is, a circle of sisters who love and take care of her (and laugh with her). A secure space to which he can return repeatedly. I like that that is displayed in .

What feedback have you ever received out of your daughter, Mia Pearl, about this book?

I used to be afraid to point out the book to my daughter to whom it was dedicated. Kids give it to you straight, and I already felt so rattling vulnerable. But I finally showed her the folded and picked up pages when the book was in its early stages. The very first thing she said was (knowing Aunt Renée was me), “Wait a minute. Were you naked in the ocean?” And when she got to the tip: “I adore it. Good job, mom.

In your author’s note, you state that children remind adults to be honest and real. What did Mia Pearl teach you about honesty and truth?

My child insists that I be honest with her, which requires me to be honest with myself. In , the aunts knew that little Yaya was on the shore watching them, which was humbling and honorable. You model sacred work. Children are innocent. Untainted. This innocence have to be protected. Respectable. You make these earliest impressions because adults are answerable for this purity. That doesn’t suggest the tooth fairy won’t stop by or we cannot go see Black Santa at Greenbriar Mall [in Atlanta]. But that is also a part of the magic.

What else would you prefer to tell the ESSENCE audience about?

As a part of the promotion, along with Saturday mornings with children, I run family-friendly salons for adults. Parents, aunts and uncles, those that buy books, read to children. People who see picture books as artworks that might be present in any library. We take themes present in ritual, intention, community and elevate them for adults. There is music, food, wine, a brief discussion, and a ritual. It’s time. You can find more information about these salons on my website Instagram account and mine website.