“Too often, children’s books by black authors have been limited by the prison of the single story, the notion that all black people share a single lived experience, and that experience, generally portrayed as heavy or edgy, usually takes place within an inner city landscape, where few rivers run, few trees grow, and birdsong is the last thing on anybody’s mind. Light, joyful, or quiet stories about our deep engagement with nature, therefore, constitute a publishing space black authors have not been encouraged to enter—until now.” Nikki Grimes provides today’s guest post on her latest book.