picture book

Patrice Gopo’s New Picture Book Is Now Ready to Be Enjoyed

April 26, 2025 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Ripening Time, Patrice Gopo’s new picture book, is all about anticipation. The central character in the story is a little girl who loves eating the fried plantains that her mother prepares, but before the plantains can be fried, they need to ripen first. The story traces this entire process, from purchasing the unripe plantains at the grocery story, to putting the plantains in a hanging basket where they can ripen over the course of a week, to watching the plantains gradually turn from green to yellow, to finally slicing, frying and serving the plantains much to the girl’s delight. 

For Patrice, the process of seeing this book through to publication also involved experiencing a series of stages, from recalling a childhood memory, to writing an initial draft, to rewriting the text multiple times, to waiting for the illustrator (Carlos Vélez Aguilera) to complete the pictures, to working with the publisher as the book went into production, to the launching of the book. Patrice and her many fans have waited a long time for the release of the book, but the waiting is over. The book is launched and ready to be enjoyed.

I contacted Patrice and asked her for more information about how she came to write Ripening Time.  Here is what she sent to me:

In my experience, the stories I write—essays or picture books—often have layers of emergence. The beginnings may come from one time in my life, but the way they take shape and form happens at another time. My second picture book, Ripening Time, is no exception. In Ripening Time, I tell the story of a little girl who is waiting across a week for plantains to ripen. It’s a celebration of food and family and connecting across generations. Every bit of this book is rooted in experiences from my childhood. My parents are Jamaican immigrants, and I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, a place where—at the time—it wasn’t always easy to find plantains. My mother used to go to the grocery store across town in search of plantains, sometimes finding the food we longed to eat. Their presence in our home was always a special treat.

This memory forms the first layer of emergence for Ripening Time. It began during my childhood in Alaska. However, additional layers of emergence needed to happen to make this story a picture book in the world. And those additional layers happened right here in Charlotte. As I mentioned above, I write essays and picture books. In fact, aspects of my essays inspire most of my picture book manuscripts. Probably a decade ago now, I took a writing class with local Charlotte writing teacher Maureen Ryan Griffin. In that class, Maureen gave us a prompt to write a letter to someone. I ended up writing a letter to my sister. That letter blossomed into the essay “Plucked and Planted” in my first essay collection, All the Colors We Will See. At the surface, “Plucked and Planted” is about plantains, but beneath the surface, it is about my sister and me and our varied relationships with our Jamaican heritage. That essay includes a couple of paragraphs where I describe how my mother used to search for plantains, and then we would wait for the plantains to ripen. These paragraphs served as the springboard for the creation of Ripening Time.

For me, taking essays and reimagining them as a picture book takes time. While essays are often “thinking work” happening on the page, picture books are much more grounded in a particular story. With Ripening Time, I was struggling to bring this story to a satisfying conclusion. I ended up applying for and receiving a Charlotte Mecklenburg Arts & Science Council (ASC) Artist Support Grant to work with a picture book writing coach. That move was a game changer for my manuscript, and it moved from a great story with a flat ending to a submission-ready manuscript that soared!

I’m grateful for the rich literary community that exists here in Charlotte—great writing teachers and wonderful organizations that support creatives. I know both of these elements have had an impact on my broader writing life and the emergence of Ripening Time as a picture book in the world!

I would love to see you at my book signing at Park Road Books on May 10 at 10:30am.  For more information about this free event, please click on the following link:  https://www.parkroadbooks.com/event/book-signing-author-patrice-gopo

For more details and a complete list of book events, please visit my website: https://www.patricegopo.com/

I congratulate Patrice on the publication of Ripening Time. It’s a beautiful story that celebrates family traditions, favorite foods, and the pleasures associated with anticipating something special.  Ripening Time is something special, and it’s a welcomed addition to the growing library of picture books by Storied Charlotte authors.

Tags: Patrice Gopopicture book

Words of Encouragement from Tameka Fryer Brown 

November 16, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

I met Charlotte children’s author Tameka Fryer Brown in person about two years ago at an event sponsored by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, but I had been following her career as a children’s author since 2020 when I came across her book Brown Baby Lullaby. Originally published in January 2020, Brown Baby Lullaby received rave reviews for being a bedtime story that celebrates Black pride while also communicating parental love and acceptance. 

I am pleased to report that Tameka has a new picture book titled All the Greatness in You that dovetails beautifully with Brown Baby Lullaby.  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux released All the Greatness in You on November 5, 2024, complete with illustrations by Alleanna Harris.  This new book is intended for children between the ages of four and eight, and it features a loving mother and her young son.  The book is brimming with words of encouragement.  

I contacted Tameka and asked her for more information about All the Greatness in You.  Here is what she sent to me:

All the Greatness in You is technically the follow up to Brown Baby Lullaby, a picture book  I published with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in 2020, that is now also available as a board book. Before it had even been released, my editor, Joy Peskin, suggested I write a similar book that older kids could embrace once they had graduated from BBL, that would also be affirming and full of love. I immediately said yes because why wouldn’t I want to write such a book? It took a while, however, for me to figure out what I wanted to say, and how best to say it.

Around this time, my youngest daughter was deeply immersed in the college and scholarship application process. As anyone who has witnessed this up close and personal in recent years can attest, it is an extremely stressful, doubt-inducing time in a young person’s life, even for the young people who seem to have it all together. Maybe especially for them. I made it my business to be whatever my daughter needed to persevere—a confidante, an encourager, a shoulder. I did my best to find impactful words to relay how wonderful, and worthy, and more than enough she was, just as she was. In the midst of all this, it struck me that these were messages to be shared with all kids; those who were growing up, embarking on new experiences, and facing new challenges. You Are: Ode to a Big Kid ultimately became All the Greatness in You. It is described as “a joyful ode to the milestones and special moments in every little one’s life, empowering them with the confidence to try new things, ask questions, make mistakes, and most of all, believe in their own greatness.”

I recently had my launch party for the book at Park Road Books, one of my favorite indie bookstores in the Charlotte area. The consensus was that the words in All the Greatness in You were just as heartening and necessary for the adults in the room as they were for the young people. For a picture book author, I can think of no greater compliment than that. 

I thank Tameka for sharing the backstory behind All the Greatness in You and for providing everyone in Storied Charlotte and beyond with such an affirming story.

Tags: picture bookTameka Fryer Brown

Patrice Gopo’s Debut Picture Book

June 13, 2022 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

With the June 14th release of All the Places We Call Home, Patrice Gopo claims her place on the list of picture books authors who currently call Charlotte home.  Patrice did not always call Charlotte home.  The child of Jamaican immigrants, Patrice grew up in Anchorage, Alaska.  During her early adult years, she spent time living in multiple states and countries, including South Africa, before eventually moving to Charlotte about eleven years ago.  Patrice draws on her unique background in her debut picture book.  For more information about Patrice and All the Places We Call Home, please click on the following link:  https://www.patricegopo.com/home

In the beginning of All the Places We Call Home, a young girl spins a globe on her bedside table and wonders about the various places that figure in her family history. Like Patrice, the girl lives in America but has family roots in multiple parts of the world.   The girl’s mother then shares bedtime stories about these special places.  Jenin Mohammed, the book’s illustrator, provides colorful pictures that perfectly match Patrice’s lyrical descriptions of the various places that the girl calls home.

All the Places We Call Home has direct connections to Patrice’s first book, a collection of personal essays titled All the Colors We Will See:  Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way, which came out in 2018. I recently contacted Patrice and asked her about the connections between these two books.  Here is what she sent to me:

First, a fun fact about All the Places We Call Home: an essay in my collection All the Colors We Will See inspired the story. Years ago, in rural Zimbabwe, my oldest daughter took a nap on her great-grandmother’s bed. That day I remembered a childhood nap I had once taken on my grandmother’s bed in rural Jamaica. I recognized how my daughter’s story would, in many ways, mirror my story: a child who lives in one place but has cultural ties to other parts of the world. That experience became an essay titled “Before.” I started writing personal essays around 2010. However, I only branched out into picture books in 2019 when an idea whispered to me that maybe I could reimagine “Before” in a new form.

When I initially started writing All the Places We Call Home, I attempted to take “Before” and pare it down, still clinging to the complex language and structural movement. That draft failed miserably. The failure, however, was still a great learning experience. I discovered I needed a different approach for a picture book versus the meandering approach I often take when writing essays. With essays, the images and lyrical language usually come first and lead me toward the story. With picture books, I discovered that the story usually comes first and leads me toward the rich imagery and lyrical language.

As a 2011 transplant to Charlotte, I think All the Places We Call Home is the perfect title for this book. Over the years, Charlotte has truly become a place I think of as another home. I know some of that metamorphosis happened because of the significant impact Charlotte and North Carolina has had on my growth as a writer. I often tell people that living in this city and this state helped me become the writer I am today. It’s here that I refined my craft as an essayist, and it’s here that I stepped into this new area of picture books. Along the way, I’ve found incredible support through organizations such as the North Carolina Arts Council, the Arts & Science Council, Charlotte Lit, and the Carolinas chapter of SCBWI.

I’m so excited for All the Places We Call Home to find its place in the world, and I’m absolutely thrilled with the Jenin Mohammed’s rich and textured illustrations. She brought life to this story in ways I could have never dreamed. Ultimately, I hope All the Places We Call Home will encourage children and their families and caregivers to embrace this beautiful truth: the places we come from can be part of us, even if we can’t always be near them. Places we’ve never lived—or we no longer live—can deepen our understanding of ourselves. Our children can connect to more than just the place where they fall asleep at night. For some, their ties stretch across the world. For others, they stretch across their town. Ultimately, may this story inspire others to celebrate the various places they call home.

Patrice is participating in several upcoming events tied to the launch of All the Places We Call Home. Detailed information about these events can be found on her website, but the key information is listed below:

Saturday, June 18th @ 11am @ Park Road Books

Wednesday, June 29th @ 1 pm @ Pig City Books

Friday, July 1st @ 10 am @ Main Street Books

Saturday, July 9th @ 11 am hosted by Shelves Bookstore

While reading All the Places We Call Home, I was reminded of the family stories that my mother told me about Sweden when I was a boy.  Everyone in my mother’s family came from Sweden, and her Swedish heritage was very important to her.  I enjoyed hearing my mother’s stories about our family history.  I was in my 60s before I visited Sweden, but I felt at home when I finally did. 

Like Patrice, I now call Charlotte home, but also like Patrice, I feel strong ties to other places in the world—places where I once lived or places where members of my family once lived.  In this regard, I am not unique.  Charlotte has a long and rich history of attracting people from all over the world.  For this reason, Patrice’s All the Places We Call Home is a perfect book for Storied Charlotte. 

Tags: family storiespicture book

Derick Wilder’s Poignant Picture Book about a Dog and His Child Friend

December 13, 2021 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

I grew up on the side of a mountain where I had something of a feral childhood.  I spent much of my early childhood wandering around the mountain, but I was usually not alone.  We had an old collie named Gypsy, and she almost always stayed at my side or rested nearby, always keeping an eye on me.  My parents used to say that they had me but Gypsy raised me.  I thought about Gypsy as I read Derick Wilder’s touching debut picture book titled The Longest Letsgoboy.  Gypsy is long gone, but I have a feeling that she would identify with the dog in this book.

Published in October by Chronicle Books, The Longest Letsgoboy tells the story of an old dog and a young girl going for one last walk in the woods together.  Narrated in the voice of the dog, the story beautifully captures the special relationship between a dog and a child.  The dog has a unique way of talking.  He has his own words for the things that are important to him.  He calls trees tallsticks, refers to squirrels as branchjumpers, and uses the name Little when talking about his girl.  The dog’s love of Little shines through on every page.  He cares deeply about Little, and he wants to make sure that she is going to be okay.  Cátia Chien’s mixed-media illustrations are in perfect synch with the strong emotions that the story evokes.

With the publication of The Longest Letsgoboy, Derick now joins the ranks of picture book authors and illustrators who call the Charlotte area home.  However, Derick took a long and winding road on his journey to becoming a published picture book author.  I asked him about how he came to write this book, and here is what he sent to me:

I’ve been writing since I was a kid—journaling vacations, penning poetic birthday cards, and scribbling silly stories. And after one career in technology and another working with children, I’ve sort of come full circle, initially falling in love with picture books after spending endless hours sitting on the floor of our library and local bookstores with my little girl. Once hooked, I began scribbling silly stories again, this time for an audience of one.

Fast forward almost a decade and that little girl has magically become a teen. Meanwhile, one of those silly stories turned into an actual book, as The Longest Letsgoboy, illustrated by Cátia Chien, was released in October. It’s a circle-of-life tale told through the eyes of an aging dog, and sprinkled with his own dog-speak, taking a final walk with his best friend, a little girl.

This book was actually inspired by a real-life event. I write on the back patio quite a bit, and my huskies at the time, Lakota and Kaya, would often sit by my feet. One morning, Lakota, then an elderly boy, got up and slowly strolled around our yard. I followed him, and it felt like he was saying farewell to the surrounding flora and fauna. So I substituted my daughter and imagined them walking through the woods, with the dog knowing it would be his last day on Earth. I wrote a (very bad) first draft that morning, then spent time in the forests of our local greenway, trying to figure out how a dog might refer to the natural elements. I’d watch squirrels, lie under trees and stare at their canopies, speak to flowers, and listen to streams. Next, I started trying combinations of small words to create dog-speak that made sense and, just as importantly, could be easily pronounced when read aloud. Finally, after about 50 revisions and multiple rejections, Jenna Pocius, my agent, found the perfect home for the story at Chronicle Books.

My next picture book, illustrated by K-Fai Steele and also published by Chronicle, is slated for May. This one will be very different, as it’s titled Does a Bulldozer Have a Butt? and is written in rhyme. But one common thread is that it was also inspired by a real-life event—my young daughter was in the back seat as we stopped behind a school bus and blurted out, “Look Daddy, the school bus has a butt!” It was a brilliant, childlike perspective that I would never have thought of… she wants royalties.

For readers who want to know more about Derick, please click on the following link:  https://www.derickwilder.com/

The Charlotte area is home to a number of remarkable picture book authors and illustrators, including Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Gail Haley, Brandon Reese, and Alicia D. Williams.  I am pleased to add Derick Wilder’s name to my list of Storied Charlotte picture book authors.

Tags: dogpicture book