Book Giveaway: I WANT TO BE BIG by Tiffany Golden

Tiffany Golden has a new picture book, I WANT TO BE BIG , illustrated by Sawyer Cloud and being published by Page Street Kids on April 11th. They have agreed to send a copy to the one lucky winner in the US.

Just leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Let me know other things you did to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you. Sharing on Facebook, Twitter or reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. So, thanks for helping Tiffany and Sawyer.

If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you everyday, please let me know when you leave a comment and I will give you an extra ticket. If you want to make sure you don’t miss seeing that you won, please click “Notify Me of Follow-Up Comments By Email” box. I will leave a comment in reply if you win the book. Thanks!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Jaiceon wishes he was big―bigger than his whole family, bigger than everyone! If he were big, he could reach the cookies on the counter, or make his own sandwich. He could stay up really late, swim with sharks, and even be best friends with Bigfoot! Nobody’s your boss when you’re big.

When Jaiceon’s wish is granted, rules shrink away, and he dives into a world of enormous fun. But as he grows, the situation grows out of control along with him, and Jaiceon starts to wonder if being small wasn’t so bad after all.

The sky’s the limit in this larger-than-life tale about how sometimes what we wish for isn’t exactly what we want, and how, with a little creativity and help, we can learn to love ourselves for who we are right now.

BOOK JOURNEY:

There is a certain amount of struggle while living Black. The struggle for social and economic justice and for healing around collective trauma. This struggle can be weighty and discouraging. We see its reflection in history and current affairs. I write about these things. I know people who write about these things. But it is just one side of a rich experience.

Recently, there have been hashtags like #blackgirlmagic and #blackboyjoy to remind us of the breadth this richness has, and more importantly to give ourselves permission to experience the fullness of our humanity, including our resilience, joy and whimsy.

I Want to Be Big! is an ode to whimsy and #blackboyjoy.

Anyone who knows me knows that my great-nephew Jaiceon (jay-see-on) and I are stuck at the hip. It’s been like that since he was a baby. Our family is full of sisters and nieces, so a little boy was a different experience for us. Full of energy, there is always running and jumping and yelling—and breaking stuff. But, there are also precious quiet moments, where we just lay next to each other doing our own thing.

I am often inspired by the way he looks at the world.

One day, he was reaching for something and said, “I wish I was big.” He was very upset. We had a talk about him getting big one day, and the importance of patience. You know, how most adults do.

But I thought about it, what does being “big” look like for him? What does it mean? I had just graduated from Spalding University’s low-residency Creative Writing MFA program that same year (2020) and thought I’d take a crack at writing a picture book. I saw myself as more of a middle grade/YA writer and was encouraged by my mentor, Lesléa Newman, to give picture books a go. I drafted a 220-word manuscript that included Jaiceon’s love for sharks and bigfoot.

Soon after, I applied for the 2020 #PBChat Mentorship, run by Justin Colon. Awardees would receive a three-month mentorship with a published writer and be able to post a picture book pitch for editors and agents at the culminating showcase. I was accepted into the 2020 cohort and partnered with the awesome author Andrea Wang. Andrea was instrumental in helping me develop I Want to Be Big! and a few other manuscripts.

Before the #PBChat Showcase, Andrea helped me get ready for #DVPit, a Twitter event created to showcase pitches from unagented, marginalized voices that have been historically underrepresented in publishing. I entered IWTBB! and Kayla Tostevin at Page Street Kids expressed interest in celebrating #blackboyjoy. I found representation through #PBChat, and signed with Christa Heschke and Daniele Hunter at McIntosh & Otis.

From there, the hard work of getting the book ready for publishing was well on its way. There have been three years between signing with Page Street and our publication date. In those years, Jaiceon has gone from four-years-old to seven. When we got our advance copy of the book, we read it together. I was also able to read at his school for the 9^th Annual African-American Read-In. He was so proud to be the star of a book. His peers were in awe. There was so much pride and joy in his eyes. I truly hope he never forgets that his joy inspires a world of stories. More than that, I hope my work contributes to a world where his full humanity is exercised, and his joy reverberates fully in this world.

Being a writer is one of the joys of my life. Writing for children is the other. I am grateful that a short manuscript and a deep love for my nephew has led to something BIG.

TIFFANY’S BIO:

Tiffany Golden is an author, illustrator, and teaching artist. She is the winner of the 2020 New Visions Award by Lee & Low Books and the inaugural Judith Tannenbaum Teaching Artist Fellowship. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. Her picture books, I Want to Be Big (Page Street Kids) and Wash Day (Mayo Clinic Press Kids), were released in 2023.

Also Tiffany Golden was a writer/director trained in Motion Picture Production at the Academy of Art University where she found a love for writing. She has worked creatively with school-aged youth for 15 years in an effort to support them in sharing their voices. As a result, dozens of her students have been published, had their films featured in festivals, had installations in major museums, and been the highlight of many community-based events.

Born in Carmel, California, Tiffany Golden has been working with school aged youth in the expressive arts for over 15 years. She currently lives in Oakland, CA.

SAWYER’S BIO:

Sawyer Cloud is a freelance artist based in Madagascar, her birth country. She is a passionate and dedicated illustrator specializing in children’s book, my all-time favorite job !

Though she didn’t have the chance to study in a proper art school, She has done a lot of researches around illustration and the publishing industry before leaving her position as a first-grade teacher to focus exclusively on my art. Thanks to the internet, she has managed to build a reputable “online career” from 2018 and worked remotely on a few books with independent publishers before getting representation in 2020 from a notorious agency specializing in children’s books.

So far, Sawyer has worked on more than 20 books published around the World and has collaborated with most of the major traditional publishers in children’s literature.

Here are 10 of Sawyer’s most recent books:

How to Love a Pony– May 2, 2023

I Want to Be Big! – April 11, 2023

The Many Fortunes of Maya – January 24, 2023

Delphine Denise and the Mardi Gras Prize – January 1, 2022

Dear Mama’s Loving Arms – February 1, 2022

The History of Juneteenth: A History Book for New Reader – May 24, 2022

A Family Looks Like Love – May 31, 2022

Wanda the Blue Whale – June 1, 2022

The Juneteenth Story: Celebrating the End of Slavery in the United States – June 17, 2022

Black Swans – November 8, 2022

Sawyer loves sunny days and music. If not drawing, she would be singing out loud in her room, wearing her favourite fairy costume and sharing that moment with her ‘online friends’. She lives with her family and her two pets, Arya the dog and Potter the cat. Her dream is to travel and share her stories with the world. Website: http://www.sawyer.cloud

Tiffany, thank your for sharing your book and journey with us. Love this bigger than life story that reminds us to be careful what we wish for – it might not really be what we want. Jaiceon wants to be tall, until he gets his wish and things spiral out of control. He’s bigger than a whale, bigger than a mountain, and can’t do the normal things, like play on a slide or join in with his family’s backyard BBQ. When he realizes his mistake, he starts to shrink and see how he can do the things that he couldn’t do with a little help from things around the house. Sawyer did a wonderful job creating the illustrations to help tell the story. Children will love this story and after seeing what Jaiceon went through will think twice before making a wish. Good Luck with the book.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy