#u americans have a very different definition of a biscuit than I do and it pisses me off

[autismdurst]

Fred (limp) biscuit stim board :3

[ashfae]

i request that u do go on at length about how most of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland does not understand chocolate chip cookies. u are welcome.

All right, you asked for it. I will preface by stating I have lived in the US for 23 years and Scotland for 19 years and as such my knowledge and opinions are not so much informed as very mixed up. (see also my spelling)

So. Biscuits and cookies.

The common statement is that in America it's a cookie and in the UK it's a biscuit. This is both true and misleading. Let us define our terms.

Generally speaking, cookies in America are about the size of your palm, usually soft and chewy rather than hard and crunchy. Some will even call them a bit cakelike. (Trivia: the word 'cookie' comes from the Dutch word 'koekje', or 'little cake'.) Sure, there are exceptions, especially if you're making them at home and have added too little flour or butter that's too soft or baked them so long that they've turned into charcoal briquettes. But the best type of cookie has a little bite to it (al dente, like pasta!) and then turns into softness on the inside. Also, they're inevitably sweet. They're best when fresh out of the oven and a smidgen gooey and if you take chocolate chip cookie dough and refrigerate it and then eat it it's divine. Cookies are a dessert.

The UK's biscuits are not cookies. They are smaller, easily half or a third the size of an American cookie. They are definitely crunchy. Also they are not necessarily sweet. It is difficult for me to describe the concept of the digestive biscuit because after almost two decades of living here I still find them to be these bizarre neither sweet nor savoury neutral things that seem pointless and pleasureless. Biscuits are lighter and less dense than cookies and not at all cakelike. They are not a dessert so much as a thing designed to be eaten alongside a hot drink, and also to be dunked into it. The hard crunchiness that at first seems a sad reminder of lost cookies from across the pond is actually very practical as it helps keep the biscuit from falling into your tea/coffee/hot chocolate and becoming a sad mess of soggy crumbs ruining your drink. They are not cookies but they are delightful in their way. They are usually not very satisfying without a hot drink to accompany them, though there are notable exceptions such as custard creams. (Also the chocolate caramel digestive, which transcends all natural laws of biscuits and digestives and has achieved a deliciousness I cannot properly explicate)

As a side note, hot drinks are not an affectation here but a necessity because everything you've ever heard about rainy cold weather in the UK is true and the cold moldy damp seeps into your bones in a way it just doesn't anywhere in the US and there's a reason we're all so religious about our hot drink of choice and getting regular access to it. I still don't like tea and expect the immigration authorities to discover this and kick me out of the country at any time.

So far, fair enough. For the most part the US and UK acknowledge each other's cookie/biscuit differences, and even regard them with affection. There is some overlap. You can find US style cookies in UK supermarkets, and they will be proper cookies, chewy and delicious and not really suitable for dunking. Best of both worlds, yes?

Alas, there are a few catches.

First off, too often when you are offered a chocolate chip cookie, you are not given a cookie. You are given a chocolate chip biscuit. It will be small and hard and have teeny tiny chips and be okay if it's dipped into a hot drink but not really appealing otherwise. This is fine if it's what you expect but sad if what you wanted was a chocolate chip cookie. My theory is that the phrase "chocolate chip cookie" is so ubiquitous that even if in a biscuit assortment everything else is called a biscuit, the chocolate chip thing will be called a cookie despite manifestly not being one.

But second. Second is the difficulty of buying chocolate chips for baking with.

In the US when baking chocolate chip cookies, you get a bag, usually 12oz. My heart belongs to Tollhouse semisweet chips and I bring back several packs every time I'm in the US. These added to a recipe will make a roughly 40 cookies. A 12oz bag is heftyish, not at all hard to lift but awkward enough that you couldn't juggle it easily.

I can only guess that no one in the UK bakes more than six or seven chocolate chip biscuits at a time and no one at all bakes chocolate chip cookies, because for years all I could find were titchy little 100g bags of substandard milk chocolate chips, where the chips were as small and uninteresting as the bag they came in. TITCHY, I tell you. 100g = 3.5oz (roughly), so I'd need four of them to make a US style batch of chocolate chip cookies. There are better ones available now (thank you, Dr. Oekter) with much better chocolate plus the chip size is large enough that you can actually taste it, as opposed to it just ending up as a tiny smudge that once saw chocolate from a distance. The bags still tend to come in only 100g amounts. I've never bothered figuring out how to make a small enough batch of cookies that 100g of chips would be enough, there hardly seems any point. I think they're sold to be used as decorations more than chocolate chip cookie essential ingredients.

There are exceptions, of course, places that sell larger bags of chips for those of us passionately determined to bake chocolate chip cookies as opposed to biscuits (looking at you Lakeland, thanks). But on the whole chocolate chip cookies are not as big a thing in the UK as in the US, and most of the UK does not know what it's missing and thinks small hard chocolate chip biscuits or grocery store made preservative-laden cookies are sufficient, and have never had fresh baked melty chewy chocolate chip cookies with decent chips, and that seems a pity to me. I am amending this where I can, however. My most enthusiastic converts are my in-laws, and I have been known to pay for goods and services with chocolate chip cookies. Fortunately I have an excellent recipe (the Tollhouse one, but with some minor tinkering and a secret ingredient). They are delicious but dangerously addictive, which is excellent for my plan to convert those around me to their service and gradually turn the whole of the UK into my own chocolate chip cookie empire. All hail Ruth Graves Wakefield!

This concludes my babbling about chocolate chip cookies for today. Tune in next time when I'll reveal my other nefarious plan to force the UK to understand and accept pumpkin pie.

[sweetsubharry]

hey ! sorry to bother you but could you reccomend me some fics of footballer louis?? thank you !! love your acc

Hiya!!  💖you can never bother me!! ^-^ ohmgosh I’m so glad you like my blog! I love footballer louis djskasdhjag tysm(sorry it took soooo long!)

please make sure you read the tags and stay safe everyone!💖

Also these are not in any particular order, however I will say the first two are probably my favourites ;) I have to read them again right after this!

freeze this moment in a frame and stay like this by rosesau

Harry (not so) secretly crushes on the cute footie player and fills pages with sketches of him.

Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow by 1Diamondinthesun

Harry spends most of his time in an empty house or a lonely darkroom, dreaming of leaving his small town for art school. He's invisible to most people. And then Louis Tomlinson sees him. Life will never be the same.

Or, the American high school AU loosely inspired by She's All That.

Definition of Beauty by zanni_scaramouche

“Your book is upside down.” Harry nods at Louis’ book, his history text now that he sees it too.

“I’d rather study you.”

They both blink, startled by the slip.

“With you. Study with you,” Louis rushes to say. “Liam says I’m shite at history, can you help?”

Louis’ caught off guard by an omega he nearly takes out with an errant footie ball. It’s not that Louis’ never seen Harry before, it’s that he can’t stop looking, and he’s desperate to figure him out.

Coffee Cups and Football Boots by kimtaedumb

Harry’s stood behind the counter again, but this time he’s painting his nails. Louis strolls up to the counter and, thanks to his no brain-to-mouth filter, blurts out, “Isn’t that a little girlish, Haz?” leaning closer to inspect.

Harry lets out a little huff as his hand slips, “Oh, damn, now I’ve messed it up,” he pouts and turns to Louis, “Why should making myself feel pretty be girly?”

Louis holds up his hands in surrender, “’M not judging, jus’ curious is all.”

(The entirely cheesy and cliché Christmas AU, in which Harry doesn’t give a damn what people think about him – mostly – and Louis may be a little bit in love.

Alternatively, the one in which Harry owns a café that’s barely scraping by and Louis is a footballer and he takes Harry away for Christmas.

Featuring Zayn as a cocky little shit that most definitely needs to be put back in his place, Niall as the loveable Irish dude who drinks too much and flirts with Zayn more than the average girl, and Liam who loves everyone but hates them all at the same time.)

Way in the World by flowsque

When Louis Tomlinson enters the waiting room, Harry can distinctly feel his heart sinking to his stomach. The man's hair is ruffled and dishevelled and his red jersey, damp with sweat from training, clings to his perfect and chiseled body. He stands there, almost unreal, against the glass door, peering inside the office. Harry knew this would’ve happened, sooner or later. That he would have bumped into him. They play for the same club after all, even if they’re in different leagues. It’s not weird. It is not. Except it totally is. - Or, the one where Harry has a knee injury and an embarrassing crush on Manchester United's pretty number ten.

I Long For You by AnotherAnonymousWriter

Thirty minutes later, he's sat on a bench in Hyde Park with a book in his lap and a travel mug with hot tea in his hand. Not far from where he's sat, a group of boys are playing football and a bunch of children are chasing each other. Life is good.

Or at least, life is good until he hears a familiar “LOOK OUT!” and sees a football flying in the direction of his face.

And then everything is black.

(Harry gets hit in the head by various objects and falls for a boy with blue eyes.)

ease the quiet and talk me down by cabinbythesea

Harry's a model and Louis' a footie player.

(Louis teaches Harry some football and Harry is insanely good at giving a lapdance).

Baby, It's You by Bearandleonardwrite

"Oh, yeah. Um..” Harry lets his hands fall to his sides. His brows furrow, face full of concern, and he asks, “You’re not, like, stalking me, are you?”

Louis can’t help the loud cackle that escapes his lips and immediately slaps one of his hands over his mouth to muffle the sound. “Oh my god, Harry, no!” Louis tells him, a little breathlessly, giggles still bubbling out of his chest. “Lottie’s one of the makeup artists here today and she somehow got me to agree to come. I had no idea you modeled for, uh.. this brand until I saw you walk.”

“Oh,” Harry says dumbly, eyebrows still pinched. He lets what Louis just said sink in before a bright grin takes over his face and he goes back to doing up the buttons on his shirt. “Well, that’s alright, then. I’m glad you could make it.

(Basically, Louis' a footie player for Man U and Harry's a YSL model. They meet at a masquerade.)

Touch by kotabear24

Harry's shy and virginal with a past, new on the football team; Louis' the (experienced) popular star of the team and Harry's new mentor.

Come In and Change My Life by lightswoodmagic (sarah_writes)

He’d had the same neighbours since he’d moved into the building, a lovely, wealthy couple in their late sixties who had always invited him around for tea on Sundays. Martha had dropped off homemade biscuits the day he’d moved in, so Harry figured he may as well repeat the sentiment. He could hear someone getting closer to the door just as a flush ran through his body; oh fuck. His heat was close, too close to be knocking on a potentially unknown alpha’s door, but it was too late. The door swung open, and Harry’s mouth dropped. He’d never been overly interested in football, couldn’t find the fascination in watching men run around after a ball for hours aside from their uniforms, but he knew who this was. Louis Tomlinson, alpha, captain of Manchester United, star in a number of Harry’s heat addled fantasies, was his new next-door neighbour.

Or, Harry and Louis become friends when Harry looks after Louis' cat during away games, until one night at a party changes everything between them. It's just a shame Louis' going to be away for the FIFA World Cup for three months.

see the truth (it's me for you) by orphan_account

If you asked Louis the first day of his French Literature class what he’d be doing on the last, he’d probably never have guessed it would involve helping a poorly Harry Styles study for the final exam. Good thing he’s not a betting man.

(Or the one where Louis and Harry spend an entire semester ignoring each other after a one-night stand, only to come face to face when Harry manages to catch the stomach flu during finals week. Sometimes fate is funny like that.)

Use Your Words by zedi

based off this prompt: collage au where jock!harry always serenades flowercrown!louis with love songs in their music class. what nobody knows is that harry actually kinda means the words he sings.

But instead it's Louis as the jock and Harry as the flowerchild because I do what I want.

Stop The World (I Wanna Get Off With You) by ilikepianos

"You like this, don't you?", he asks breathlessly.

What? Sucking cock? Being dominated? Yes, all of that. A big fat yes.

Harry nods, lips still wrapped around Louis' throbbing dick.

Louis' lips curl into a smirk. "Keep going then. You're doing amazing, love."

OR: The uni-football AU where Harry may or may not have a minor crush on the captain of the team and suddenly discovers that the feeling is very much mutual.

Picture Perfect by LittleBubbleStyles

an AU where Louis Tomlinson is a misunderstood football player, and Harry Styles is a misunderstood photographer. Somehow, they're understood together.

I just think about my baby; I'm so full of love I could barely eat by mercutionotromeo

Harry and Louis are six hundred miles apart, but they have the same solutions to the same problem.

Or: a masturbation drabble featuring pillow humping, locker rooms, and copious amounts of dirty talk.

into another (another) serotonin overflow by mercutionotromeo

Harry wants this year to be different - wants it to be the year that he finally gets over this stupid crush. He’s going to uni, he needs to decide what he wants to do with his life.

Instead, he’s deciding what he wants to do to Louis Tomlinson.

Or: Sweet first time sex wherein Harry's adorably awkward, Louis is achingly cool, and Harry rides Louis wearing his jersey.

note: it says it in the tag but this is the edited version written in 2019, rather than the 2017 original- so there’s two put I put the link for the newest one :)

need a little sweetness in my life by mercutionotromeo

Harry's always liked feeling desperate and small when Louis touches him, but when he sucks Harry off...it’s fucking otherworldly. Desperate’s not really the word at that point - it’s helpless. Like… like the fucking world could stop spinning and Harry wouldn’t be able to do anything about it until Louis finished him off with his lips and his tongue.

Or, Harry and Louis go to university together. Harry really likes it when Louis sucks him off, and Louis really likes it when Harry calls him Daddy.

(Sequel to "into another serotonin overflow")

I made a map of your stars by brightbluelou

Harry does not have a crush on Louis Tomlinson. Yes, Louis is very pretty and funny, and Harry may have had more than a few inappropriate thoughts about him, but he certainly doesn’t like him. (Except for the fact that he totally does.) or, Harry is the shy boy in the back of the class that no one really notices. Louis is the loud, outgoing football player that everybody likes.

We Made These Memories for Ourselves by supernope

Breath held, Harry squints his eyes open and focuses on the first stick. A blue line. Harry breathes out an unsteady breath. He’s pretty sure he read that one blue line is a negative, but he fishes the box from the bottom of the pile just to make sure.

“Negative,” he confirms, voice echoing around the small room. “Next.”

Now that he’s feeling a little less shaky, he scans the rest of the tests at once, is met with a headache-inducing mixture of pink plus signs and blue double lines. His heart rate picks up until it’s pounding triple-time in the base of his throat and the pit of his stomach, thundering in his ears and throbbing in his temples. He flips over the rest of the boxes slowly, but he knows what they’re going to say before he even looks.

[or, Louis is a footballer, Harry owns a bakery, and they're having a baby.]

Kiss Me on the Mouth and Set Me Free by ls2k14   

Louis has his head thrown back in a laugh, his wet fringe hanging in front of his eyes, and a beautiful flush to his cheeks. From this angle, the sun hits his face just right to where the beams of light are shining in between the spaces of each individual clump of watered down eyelashes. His chest is showing through the soaked material of his white jersey and it seems that his biceps are attempting to break free from the sleeves that are clinging to his skin.

And Harry can do nothing except take it all in. He doesn’t even think he’s breathing at this point. He is literally stuck in place, admiring the true beauty of Louis Tomlinson, while being surrounded by fit footballers and generally attractive people. He doesn’t think he’s ever been in love before, but if Louis let him, he’s pretty damn sure he could change that in the matter of a few nanoseconds.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/g-20-leaders-discuss-post-coronavirus-world-as-u-s-cases-top-12-million/

G-20 leaders discuss post-coronavirus world as U.S. cases top 12 million

Allan Smith

2m ago / 5:09 PM UTC

Incoming White House chief of staff says Biden planning scaled-back inauguration

Incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Sunday that Americans can expect to see a scaled-back inauguration on Jan. 20 due to the continued surge in Covid-19 cases across the U.S.

“I think it’s going to definitely have to be changed,” Klain said. “We started some consultations with House and Senate leadership on that. Obviously, this is not going to be the same kind of inauguration we had in the past.”

Klain said President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are “going to try to have an inauguration that honors the importance and the symbolic meaning of the moment, but also does not result in the spread of disease.”

“I think we’ll have some mix of those techniques, some mix of, you know, scaled-down versions of the existing traditions,” Klain added. “People have a lot to celebrate on January 20th.”

Reuters

53m ago / 4:18 PM UTC

WHO Covid envoy fears third wave, calls Europe response ‘incomplete’

A World Health Organization (WHO) special Covid-19 envoy predicted a third wave of the pandemic in Europe in early 2021, if governments repeat what he said was a failure to do what was needed to prevent the second wave of infections.

“They missed building up the necessary infrastructure during the summer months, after they brought the first wave under the control,” the WHO’s David Nabarro said in an interview with Swiss newspapers.

“Now we have the second wave. If they don’t build the necessary infrastructure, we’ll have a third wave early next year,” Nabarro said. 

Nabarro lauded the response of Asian countries like South Korea, where infections are now relatively low, saying Asia did not relax restrictions prematurely.

“You must wait until case numbers are low and stay low,” he said. “Europe’s reaction was incomplete.”

David K. Li, Katie Reimchen and Sam Brock

2h ago / 3:30 PM UTC

The joy of weddings is leading to the misery of coronavirus spread across America

The unholy union of weddings receptions and coronavirus has public health officers pleading with Americans to say “I don’t” to pandemic nuptials.

Between the Pacific Northwest and forests of Maine, all across the country, joyous expressions of love have become Covid-19 superspreaders, fueling the fall season’s deadly coronavirus spike.

“Weddings are so dangerous in this day and age, quite honestly you’re just asking for trouble,” said Ali H. Mokdad, chief strategy officer for Population Health at the University of Washington.

“Weddings are very dangerous at this time especially as the infection rate is higher and weddings now are happening indoors and not outdoors,” Mokdad told NBC News.

“And you hug your friend, you hug your family members, you do that. In many cultures, we kiss. We kiss each other. You come close to them, especially people you haven’t seen in a long time. You want to catch up. You’re laughing, you’re joking and yes, you’re spreading the virus more than ever.”

Read the full story here.

Reuters

3h ago / 1:54 PM UTC

France to start easing lockdown rules in three steps

France will start easing coronavirus lockdown rules in coming weeks, carrying out the process in three stages so as to avoid a new flareup in the pandemic, the government said Sunday.

“There will be three steps to (lockdown) easing in view of the health situation and of risks tied to some businesses: a first step around Dec. 1, then before the year-end holidays, and then from January 2021,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told Le Journal Du Dimanche.

With recent data showing France on track to rein in a surge in coronavirus infections, the government is under pressure from shops and businesses to ease restrictions in time for the Christmas shopping season.

President Emmanuel Macron has said that France’s second national lockdown, which started on Oct. 30, would last at least four weeks. He is expected to announce a partial relaxation of restrictions on Tuesday. 

Julia Jester and Alicia Victoria Lozano

5h ago / 12:19 PM UTC

Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler quarantining after inconclusive test results

Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler is quarantining after receiving inconclusive Covid-19 test results following multiple campaign appearances earlier this week, her campaign said Saturday.

The news comes one day after Loeffler, a Republican locked in a competitive runoff race that could determine the balance of power in Congress, attended two campaign events on Friday alongside Vice President Mike Pence.

In photos shared on Twitter, neither Loeffler nor Pence appeared to be wearing masks.

According to her campaign, Loeffler took two rapid tests Friday morning before the events. The results came back negative. She was later informed that her PCR test, considered the gold standard in detecting genetic material specific to the coronavirus, was positive.

She was retested Saturday after consulting with medical officials and that result was inconclusive, Loeffler campaign spokesperson Stephen Lawson said in a statement. Loeffler remains asymptotic and will remain in quarantine until receiving conclusive test results, Lawson added.

Pence’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the full story.

The Associated Press

5h ago / 12:18 PM UTC

California pub tries to keep calm, carry on with virus rules

A waitress serves beer to patrons at Ye Olde King’s Head on Thursday in Santa Monica, Calif. The British restaurant and bar has been battered the past nine months.Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — By most measures of what keeps a pub afloat, the coronavirus pandemic should already have Ye Olde King’s Head on its last kegs.

The British restaurant and bar in Southern California has been battered the past nine months. The mock Tudor fixture near the beach weathered a lengthy shutdown in the spring, a destructive ransacking during police protests in May and public health orders that have required constant adaptation.

Gov. Gavin Newsom placed most California businesses under the most severe restrictions on Monday and on Thursday added a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew for residents that takes effect Saturday.

“It’s like every week there’s a different rule to follow,” said operations manager Lisa Powers, who has guided the 46-year-old institution through an ever-changing set of public health orders.

When the pandemic hit, the King’s Head had to offer its traditional British fare — everything from bangers and mash and fish and chips to traditional Sunday roast — for takeout. It’s now reopened as is the adjoining gift “shoppe” offering imported tea, biscuits, Marmite spread and British newspapers.

The Associated Press

5h ago / 12:16 PM UTC

Ben Carson says he’s ‘out of the woods’ after battling virus

Housing Secretary Ben Carson testifies during a Senate hearing last year.Zach Gibson / Getty Images file

STERLING, Va. — Housing Secretary Ben Carson is crediting unapproved, experimental treatments with saving his life after he became “desperately ill” following his infection with the coronavirus.

There is no medical evidence that the treatments Carson cited worked.

A retired neurosurgeon, Carson said Friday that he believes he’s “out of the woods.” He disclosed that his wife, Candy, also had COVID-19, the disease the coronavirus causes. Carson tested positive earlier this month.

Most people recover from the disease, which has killed more than 250,000 Americans and sickened nearly 12 million, including President Donald Trump and members of his family.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Carson said he was “extremely sick” but saw “dramatic improvement” after taking a botanical treatment derived from the oleander plant. Carson said he has underlying conditions, which he did not specify, “and after a brief period when I only experienced minor discomfort, the symptoms accelerated and I became desperately ill.”

[cbcdiversity]

In Conversation with Author JaNay Brown-Wood

By Julie Bliven

The first diversity question today is how do you self identify?

I am a black American woman.

How did your background influence your early reading and writing habits, if at all?

I grew up in a family where education was of utmost importance. Reading, writing, and all things academic were as normal and mandatory as breathing. I am thankful for how much my parents valued education. They read to us each night and exposed us to different texts ranging from poetry and children’s literature to newspapers and encyclopedias. I still remember when my dad ordered a collection of Encyclopedia Britannica that filled an entire bookshelf in our living room. I do admit that I initially didn’t like reading for fun, but I thoroughly enjoyed writing my own stories, poetry, and songs. Reading grew on me, and, to this day, both reading and writing are integral parts of my life.

Growing up, did you see and/or envision yourself in the stories you read?

I didn’t see myself in many stories that I read, but two do come to mind: Vera B. Williams’s Cherries and Cherry Pits and John Steptoe’s Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. I don’t remember loving those books, but they do stick out in my mind—possibly because they had black girls in them. As a teenager I remember reading Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and while the protagonist was black, I didn’t feel like I connected to her that much. I think I insulated myself from not being represented in books because I wrote my own stories where I was the main character. I wrote a bunch of stories starring Detective JaNay Brown where I’d go on adventures and solve mysteries. I also remember writing stories with black girls that were similar to me, even if they didn’t have my name. So although I didn’t really feel myself connecting to published books, I definitely connected to my own work since I was the one solving all the problems!

How did you get into writing for children?

I always knew I wanted to write for children. My love for writing started when I was very young. For a sixth-grade assignment I wrote and illustrated a picture book. My entire class sat and listened as I read it. When I was being promoted to seventh grade, my sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Welch, predicted that I’d become a “best-selling author.” I still have the prediction she made, so it was such a powerful moment for me when my first picture book, Imani’s Moon, was published, and Mrs. Welch was right there at my book release party. I may not be a best-selling author (yet!), but it was still a magical moment. So yes, I always knew I wanted to write books, and my voice seemed to naturally connect to young readers. As for getting work published, that took lots of hard work, persistence, honing my craft, and support. It’s no easy feat to publish books, but I won’t let a challenge keep me from doing what I enjoy and find important.

What appeals most to you about the job of writing for children?

There’s so much that appeals to me about writing for children. I enjoy being creative—coming up with dynamic characters, interesting plotlines, or alliterative rhymes. I also like finding things from my own experience and capturing them on the page. For example, my latest picture book, Grandma’s Tiny House, was inspired by my family’s Thanksgiving celebrations. I also appreciate the big responsibility that comes with being an author. It is authors who help children get hooked on reading. When we write stories that children want to engage with, we are setting the foundation for a literate future. I take this responsibility very seriously! I also love when children connect with my characters. I can recall one of the times I read Imani’s Moon to a group of children. A little black girl flipped through the pages of her own copy, showing me the pages as we moved through the story. The huge smile on her face stays with me, especially since her middle name was Imani.

Can you tell me about Grandma’s Tiny House, your recent picture book that is referred to as a casual diversity title?

Grandma’s Tiny House is the book version of my family’s Thanksgiving gathering. I have a giant family (my dad had thirteen or fourteen siblings—I lost count) and we’d often go over to my grandma’s house for holiday celebrations, bringing food to share. Many of the foods depicted in the book are exactly what we ate, including turkey, collard greens, biscuits, cheesecakes, etc. It feels so good to see children enjoying my words that describe something that is so near and dear to my heart. And something that I’ve really enjoyed about the publication of Grandma’s Tiny House is that I’ve been told so many times by people of different races that my story is just like what happens at their grandma’s house.

Can you give an example of another recent diversity title that you would recommend and why?

There are so many to choose from. But I am a huge fan of Gaia Cornwall’s Jabari Jumps. It is a simple picture-book story that so many children can relate to. It’s about being afraid of jumping off the high dive but overcoming the fear and succeeding. I also love the beautiful artwork! Cornwall made such a deliberate choice to differ the skin tones of the dad, little sister, and Jabari. And it is the dad—rather than a mother figure—who takes them to the pool and talks Jabari through his fears. Such a great work! I am also a huge fan of Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give. I really saw myself in Starr, and I thought Thomas did such a superb job handling difficult subjects that are prominent in the black community today.

How did you feel when you heard about the new grassroots organization People of Color in Publishing?

I am beyond excited to hear about this new development within the realm of publishing. When I first heard about the organization, two things came to mind. I thought: 1) Finally! A comprehensive group that includes more than just authors aimed at combating the lack of diversity!; and 2) I want in! How can I help?

Diversity in children’s books is so important, and this expands beyond race. All kids should be able to find themselves in the books they read—so let’s continue to make that happen in a big way!

How do you feel about the future of children’s publishing and your future as an author, given the #OwnVoices Movement, We Need Diverse Books, and additional people and actions working to make our industry better reflect the world we live in?

This is an area I am incredibly passionate about. Diversity is paramount to a future where individuals embrace one another’s differences and work together as a whole to make a better, more compassionate world. I am in the process of determining what role I can play in moving diversity forward, beyond being an author. One thing I can share is I am currently working on my doctorate degree in education at the University of California, Davis. My research is aimed at looking into the impacts that diversity in books can have on children. I am in the process of analyzing some data I collected and am eager to see what my findings show. (I’m not sharing specifics quite yet.)

Because I believe in the importance of diversity in children’s books so much, I am trying to do my part in supporting this as an author in the books I write, as a educator in the classes I teach and workshops I give, and as a researcher in the studies I conduct and papers I write. I feel the future looks bright for children’s publishing, and I hope each of these movements and organizations continue to gain momentum as we push for a more representative body of literature that children can read from, learn from, and be inspired by.

JaNay Brown-Wood is a professor of early childhood and writes books for children. She is the author of Imani’s Moon and Grandma’s Tiny House. JaNay lives with her family in California.

Julie Bliven is editor at Charlesbridge, where she edits fiction and nonfiction board books, picture books, and middle-grade novels. She and JaNay Brown-Wood are currently collaborating on their third picture book together. Julie holds an M.A. in Children’s Literature from Simmons College, mentors writers in the college’s M.F.A. program, and has taught writing courses at the Jewish Community Center of Massachusetts. She is also a former member of the Children’s Book Council Diversity Initiative. @Julie_Bliven