JaNay Brown-Wood is an early childhood professor and the author of
several books for children, including Shhh! The Baby's Asleep and
Grandma's Tiny House. She also contributed to the poetry anthology
Thanku- Poems of Gratitude. Much of JaNay's work is intended to
celebrate casual diversity, primarily featuring Black characters.
JaNay lives in California.
Anastasia Magloire Williams is a visual communicator who considers
herself more of a storyteller than simply a designer or an artist.
Using a unique blend of graphic, illustrative, and painterly
illustration, she believes that "style" should always serve the
story, or concept. She has a B.F.A in Illustration from the
Savannah College of Art and Design, and lives in Florida.
"Tyson may be the smallest and youngest of five brothers, but his
math skills make him a giant at saving the day when the family pet
goes missing.
When playing basketball with his older brothers, Tyson struggles to
keep up; his steps are smaller, and he quickly realizes that he has
to take more of them to compensate. Nicknamed Li’l Man, Tyson
enjoys playing with and taking care of the family’s pet gerbil,
Swish, who is significantly smaller than him. When Swish escapes
from his cage, his brothers take the lead on finding the little
animal, while Tyson cleans and prepares the cage for his eventual
return. When his brothers are unable to locate Swish, Tyson must
consider, “If I were Swish, where would I go?” Turns out Swish is
under the bed, just out of reach. Tyson uses the tubes from Swish’s
cage to lure the gerbil out, realizing that if he uses smaller
tubes, he’ll need more of them to bridge the distance, and he
ultimately rescues Swish. Brown-Wood has crafted an accessible and
relatable narrative in which knowledge of proportional thinking
helps solve a real-world problem. Williams’ fun, funky, colorful
digital images of a loving Black family of boys complement the
story well.
Reflects everyday Black boy joy with a mathematical twist."
—Kirkus Review
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