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INTERVIEWS:

Black All Around

By Patricia Hubbell
Illustrations by Don Tate

Patricia Hubbell
photo 

When I was little, says children’s book author Patricia Hubbell, “I wanted to grow up and be a farmer.” She went to the University of Connecticut to study agriculture, but ended up studying English instead. It was then that a poet and writer was born, one who has been writing children’s books for almost forty years now.

Black All Around! is Hubbell’s latest picture book release, and it is the story of an African American girl who discovers all of the wonderful and beautiful things around her that are black. Hubbell’s playful verses about the color black in all its warm, cozy, exciting, and wonderful ramifications counteract the negative perceptions and images that are sometimes associated with the word "black." Other books by Patricia Hubbell include Bouncing Time, Sisewalk Trip, and Pots and Pans. Bouncing Time was named one of the “Best Books of the Year” by Nick. Jr. magazine, and SIDEWALK TRIP received the “Reading Magic Award” from Parenting magazine. Her poems have appeared in more than 200 anthologies, textbooks, and magazines.

When asked how she got started writing, Hubbell responded, “I got started writing by sitting up in a tree, looking out over the meadow and reservoir across from my home, thinking about what I saw.” She says it is in every day life that she finds her ideas for stories and poems. “I’ve gotten ideas from everywhere!” exclaims Hubbell. “From things I do, things I see, things I hear. I’ve gotten ideas from gravel paths, from a starfish, from my Dad’s apple orchard, from the sight of a chair sitting unsat on in a sunny room.”

Hubbell was born in Easton, Connecticut and has lived there all her life. She is married, and has two children. Everyone in her family is some kind of an artist, her husband Harold is a writer, her son Jeff is a photographer, and her daughter Deb is a musician.

About This Title

Guided Reading:

I

Lexile:

AD490L

Interest Level:

Grades PreK - 3

Reading Level:

Grades 1 - 2

Themes

Colors, Similarities and Differences, Poetry, Imagination, Families, Childhood Experiences and Memories, African/African American Interest, Fathers, Identity/Self Esteem/Confidence, Pride

Collections

Emergent Dual Language, Emergent English, English Fiction Grades PreK-2, Bebop English Guided Reading Level I, Poetry Grades PreK-2, Lee & Low Poetry Collection, Appendix B Diverse Collection Grades K-2, African American English Collection Grades PreK-2, Identity and Individuality , Women's Text Set Collection Grades PreK-8, Women's Text Set Collection PreK-2, African American Collection English 6PK, EmbraceRace Webinar: Books That Inspire Resilience in Kids of Color, Reading Recovery Bebop Books collection, Anti-Racism Book Collection, Juneteenth Webinar Collection, Books About Joy Collection, Multicultural Phonemic Awareness Read Alouds

More Info

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