A Fantasy Children's Book Written for Black Boys!
Little Boy and the Moon: A children's book inspired by a need for adventure, magical creatures & a sprinkle of black boy joy.
Meet the Author S.L. Gardner
The Inspiration for Little Boy and the Moon
- I have always loved to read! I am a huge fan of mysteries, African/Afro-Futurism, magical worlds and mythical creatures. Within the last year, I became a grandparent to the most amazing little person. And I wanted to share my love of fantasy with him by reading children's books of the aforementioned themes. Not only that, I wanted there to be a whimsical story that centered a black boy as the main character. Now, I won't say these children's books don't exist at all, but I can say that I didn't find many. I found children's books where blackness was a major component of the story, and I did come across others where that wasn't the case, but there was something missing.
- What was missing for me, was the magic of an unknown faraway land + a little black boy as the primary character + a fantastical story. I won't say I was terribly surprised that there wasn't much to choose from, because in the grand scheme of things, there are only two-ish (allegedly) major motion picture cartoons that have a main character that is black. And even they spend the majority of the film as something other than the black character that was initially introduced. (No shade, because I really like those films. But you get where I'm going, right?)
- And as the people say, "You should create what you want to see in the world." So, that's exactly what I did! And the end result is my first children's book, "Little Boy and the Moon!" I have dedicated this book to my own little black boy with the mantra, "Because all the boys that look like you deserve magic too!"
