Sarah Layzell is a writer and editor. Their research has focused on economics in children’s literature and sports in children’s literature. Layzell is author of the children’s novel, Cottonopolis. Tammy L. Mielke is an English language arts teacher and academic. Her research focuses on the ways in which culture is represented in literature intended for children and young adults. Her previous publications include a history of illustrations of Little Black Sambo and responses to African American dialect in children’s literature in the 1930s. She has also published on steampunk, representations of religion in YA fiction, and the concept of flow in coteaching contexts. Michelle H. Martin became the Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor in Children and Youth Services in the Information School at University of Washington in 2016, and she was the inaugural Augusta Baker Endowed Chair in Childhood Literacy at the University of South Carolina from 2011-2016. Her current research project, Dream Keepers for Children of the Sun, is a critical analysis of the collaborative and individual works that Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps wrote for children during their 40-year friendship. Martin co-founded with Dr. Rachelle Washington Read-a-Rama (www.Read-a-Rama.org), a non-profit that uses children’s books as the springboard for programming.

"Song of the Land is a testament to the richness of Mildred Taylor’s legacy and to the diverse practices that enrich our understanding of Black children’s literature." - Karen Michele Chandler, author of Tending to the Past: Selfhood and Culture in Children's Narratives about Slavery and Freedom

Sarah Layzell is a writer and editor. Their research has focused on economics in children’s literature and sports in children’s literature. Layzell is author of the children’s novel, Cottonopolis. Tammy L. Mielke is an English language arts teacher and academic. Her research focuses on the ways in which culture is represented in literature intended for children and young adults. Her previous publications include a history of illustrations of Little Black Sambo and responses to African American dialect in children’s literature in the 1930s. She has also published on steampunk, representations of religion in YA fiction, and the concept of flow in coteaching contexts. Michelle H. Martin became the Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor in Children and Youth Services in the Information School at University of Washington in 2016, and she was the inaugural Augusta Baker Endowed Chair in Childhood Literacy at the University of South Carolina from 2011-2016. Her current research project, Dream Keepers for Children of the Sun, is a critical analysis of the collaborative and individual works that Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps wrote for children during their 40-year friendship. Martin co-founded with Dr. Rachelle Washington Read-a-Rama (www.Read-a-Rama.org), a non-profit that uses children’s books as the springboard for programming.

"Song of the Land is a testament to the richness of Mildred Taylor’s legacy and to the diverse practices that enrich our understanding of Black children’s literature." - Karen Michele Chandler, author of Tending to the Past: Selfhood and Culture in Children's Narratives about Slavery and Freedom

Sarah Layzell is a writer and editor. Their research has focused on economics in children’s literature and sports in children’s literature. Layzell is author of the children’s novel, Cottonopolis. Tammy L. Mielke is an English language arts teacher and academic. Her research focuses on the ways in which culture is represented in literature intended for children and young adults. Her previous publications include a history of illustrations of Little Black Sambo and responses to African American dialect in children’s literature in the 1930s. She has also published on steampunk, representations of religion in YA fiction, and the concept of flow in coteaching contexts. Michelle H. Martin became the Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor in Children and Youth Services in the Information School at University of Washington in 2016, and she was the inaugural Augusta Baker Endowed Chair in Childhood Literacy at the University of South Carolina from 2011-2016. Her current research project, Dream Keepers for Children of the Sun, is a critical analysis of the collaborative and individual works that Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps wrote for children during their 40-year friendship. Martin co-founded with Dr. Rachelle Washington Read-a-Rama (www.Read-a-Rama.org), a non-profit that uses children’s books as the springboard for programming.

"Song of the Land is a testament to the richness of Mildred Taylor’s legacy and to the diverse practices that enrich our understanding of Black children’s literature." - Karen Michele Chandler, author of Tending to the Past: Selfhood and Culture in Children's Narratives about Slavery and Freedom