Scholarship Update: Ballou Story Project Authors
Scholarship Update: Ballou Story Project Authors

In fall of 2019, Shout Mouse Press awarded $500 direct aid scholarships to 14 authors as part of the Ballou Story Project “College Ready” program. The idea for this fund, made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor, came from student authors themselves, who faced byzantine financial aid systems that didn’t suit the needs of first-generation, low-income college students. This spring, each student will receive another $500 scholarship. All awardees are Shout Mouse Press authors who contributed to The Ballou We Know and graduated as part of Ballou High School’s class of 2019. We recently heard back from the awardees; these are dispatches from their first semester!

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Program UpdatesIzzy RodeBallou High SchoolComment
Voces Sin Fronteras author on her visit to DC's Central Detention Facility
Voces Sin Fronteras author on her visit to DC's Central Detention Facility

Recently, an author of Voces Sin Fronteras had the opportunity to do an author talk at the District’s Central Detention Center (“DC Jail”) through our partners at Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop. Free Minds provides books, creative writing workshops, and peer support to DC youth who have been incarcerated as adults to help them achieve their education and career goals — and become powerful voices for change in the community. They host a book club in the DC Jail that meets once a week to read and discuss contemporary literature. The members choose what books to read democratically. In September, the Spanish book club Mentes Libres decided to read Voces Sin Fronteras, our collection of comic memoirs by young Latinx immigrants, and our partners at Free Minds invited an author to come speak! In this blog post, Erminia reflects on her experience talking to the book club.

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Author Voices, ReflectionsIzzy RodeFree Minds, LAYC, erminiaComment
Four Upcoming Children's Books
Four Upcoming Children's Books

We’ve finished our seventh summer of writing workshops with the teen tutors of Reach to create four new children's books. These students were excited to create stories that will inspire and educate the young people they tutor and throughout their community. They spent four weeks writing with the help of our story coaches, brought their characters to life with up and coming illustrators, and learned what it takes to create a children's book. Now that the authors have finished writing, our illustrators are working on bringing their stories to life! Books launch in November and we can't wait. We couldn’t keep these exciting new stories to ourselves, so here’s a sneak peek at this exciting new batch of books:

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Program UpdatesBarrett SmithReach IncorporatedComment
Book Launch: I Am The Night Sky
Book Launch: I Am The Night Sky

Its official! I Am Night Sky and other reflections by muslim american youth, Shout Mouse Press’ newest antholgy featuring the stories of Muslim youth from the DMV area has launched. After a year of writing, editing, and rewriting Next Wave Muslim Innitiative’s youth authors presented their book I Am The Night Sky to an audience full of friends, family, readers, and supporters. 

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Events, Author VoicesBarrett SmithNWMIComment
Announcing Our Newest Release!
Announcing Our Newest Release!

We celebrated the beginning of Ramadan by announcing our newest book: I AM THE NIGHT SKY and Other Reflections by Muslim American Youth

During an era characterized by both hijabi fashion models and enduring post-9/11 stereotypes, ten Muslim American teenagers came together to explore what it means to be young and Muslim in America today. These teens represent the tremendous diversity within the American Muslim community, and their book, like them, contains multitudes.

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Events, Program UpdatesBarrett SmithNWMIComment
Welcoming our 35th book to the catalog!
Welcoming our 35th book to the catalog!

…and other exciting updates….

This book, the fifth volume of The Ballou Story Project, was initiated by the students of Ballou High School in response to a challenging year for the community. They wanted to illuminate the Ballou not often represented in the media--one full of love, hard work, and transformation. Most importantly, these young people wanted to speak for themselves, not to be spoken about. They remind us that there are many sides to every story, and that all voices should be valued and heard. “This is our last line of defense,” they write. “These are our stories. This is the Ballou We Know.” 

The Ballou We Know will be released May 9th.

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SMP StaffBallou High School, NWMI, Reach Incorporated, LAYCComment
February 2019 Update
February 2019 Update

The authors of Voces Sin Fronteras received a glowing starred review from School Library Journal: "Spotlighting underrepresented voices, this work is highly recommended for all communities in their efforts to promote empathetic, inclusive discussions around immigration." Read the full review here.

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Barrett SmithComment
Meg Medina Writes New Foreword for "Voces Sin Fronteras"
Meg Medina Writes New Foreword for "Voces Sin Fronteras"

We are so excited that award-winning young adult, middle grade, and picture book author Meg Medina has written a new foreword for Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth! Voces is a graphic memoir collection by LAYC’s Latino Youth Leadership Council, a passionate group of young people dedicated to social justice in their community. We’ll be releasing the new edition soon, so stay tuned!

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Program UpdatesSarai JohnsonLAYCComment
Illustrator Interview with Light: Four Years Later
Illustrator Interview with Light: Four Years Later

Light is already the illustrator of four children’s books, Trio Plus One, One Lonely Camel, The Princess of Fort Hill Shelter, and The Hoodie Hero. They have a fine arts background, studying painting and printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University. Light returned to the Reach children’s books project this year to illustrate Adventures in Ana Park, which comes out in November.

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ConversationsShout MouseComment
SMP Story Coach Reflects on Summer 2018 NWMI Writing Workshops
SMP Story Coach Reflects on Summer 2018 NWMI Writing Workshops

This summer, I served as a story coach for a workshop with 10 Muslim-American teen writers and artists. The two-week long workshop was the first phase of a collaboration between between Shout Mouse Press (SMP) and Next Wave Muslim Initiative (NWMI) to provide young Muslim American writers and artists a place to produce a collection of art, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction that gives different perspectives on being a Muslim American in the current political climate.

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ReflectionsSMP StaffNWMIComment
Ballou Story Project Writers Visit Kendall Demonstration Elementary School
Ballou Story Project Writers Visit Kendall Demonstration Elementary School

Recently, Ballou High School graduates and co-authors of How to Grow Up Like Me, Our Lives Matter, and Humans of Ballou, Carl Brown and Darne’sha Walker visited a class of 6th-8th graders at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES). KDES is a day school serving deaf and hard of hearing students from birth through grade 8 located within Gallaudet University’s campus.

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Author Voices, ReflectionsSarai JohnsonBallou High School, darne'sha, carlComment
Book Launch – Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth
Book Launch – Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth

It’s here! Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth, Shout Mouse’s first graphic memoir collection has officially launched. Voces Sin Fronteras, a collection of 16 bilingual side-by-side graphic memoir collections, is a product of a month-long workshop with the Latin American Youth Center’s Latino Youth Leadership council, a passionate group of young people dedicated to social justice in their community.

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Reflections, EventsEvaShapiro@msn.comLAYCComment
Save the Date – 5/30 Launch of "Voces sin Fronteras"
Save the Date – 5/30 Launch of "Voces sin Fronteras"

Join us for the launch of our first ever graphic memoir collection.

During the summer of 2017, Shout Mouse Press held a month-long workshop with LAYC's Latino Youth Leadership Council (LYLC), a passionate group of young people dedicated to social justice in their community. The workshop, led by a team of teaching artists with experience devising and illustrating comic books, resulted in a graphic memoir collection, titled Voces sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth.

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Program Updates, EventsSarai JohnsonLAYCComment
New Partner: Next Wave Muslim Initiative
New Partner: Next Wave Muslim Initiative

Great news! Shout Mouse Press is partnering with Next Wave Muslim Initiative (NWMI) to produce a book project by Muslim youth. The workshops will result in an original novel, inspired by youth observations and experiences, that confronts anti-Muslim discrimination and explores multiple perspectives of American Muslims. The project, which begins this summer, will be co-led by award-winning novelist Hena Khan.

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Program UpdatesSarai JohnsonNWMIComment