Tonya Bolden

Tonya K. Bolden (born March 1, 1959) is an American writer best known for her works of children's literature, especially children's nonfiction. Bolden has authored, co-authored, collaborated on, or edited more than forty books. Hillary Rodham Clinton praised her 1998 book 33 Things Every Girl Should Know in a speech at Seneca Falls, on the 150th anniversary of the first Women's Rights Convention. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl (2005), her children's biography of Maritcha Rémond Lyons, was the James Madison Book Award Winner and one of four honor books for the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King Author Award. M.L.K.: Journey of a King (2007) won the Orbis Pictus award from the National Council of Teachers of English, the organization’s highest award for children’s nonfiction, and the next year, her George Washington Carver (2008) was one of five honor books for the same award. In 2016, the Children’s Book Guild of Washington, D.C. selected Bolden for its Nonfiction Award in recognition of her entire body of work, which, according to the award, has “contributed significantly to the quality of nonfiction for children.”.

Life and career Early years Tonya Bolden was born on March 1, 1959, in New York City to Willie J. and Georgia C. Bolden, who had moved to New York from North Carolina and South Carolina, respectively. Georgia received formal education only through sixth grade, Willie through ninth. Although her parents were careful with money, they were generous when it came to buying books,

Although Bolden has claimed that her love of writing while in her parents’ home influenced her eventual choice of career, her parents’ habit of encouraging reading had as much to do with her personal joy as it did her eventual professional prospects. Her parents, she recalls, “encouraged me to seek to earn a living doing something I absolutely loved. And when I was a child, I was crazy about reading and writing.”. Indeed, Bolden has said that she has “been in love with books since I learned my ABCs” (Trussell).

Ironically, although Bolden is today best known for her historical fiction and nonfiction, as a child she was pointedly uninterested in history, especially in history learned through books. “It was usually presented in such an uninteresting way,” she recalls. “I didn’t see myself or my people in history.” Bolden attended M.E.S. 146, a public school in East Harlem, and later the Chapin School, a private school on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Following her graduation from Princeton, Bolden worked for two years before returning to school. She then continued her studies at Columbia. In 1987, Bolden began writing full-time, putting her in a position in which, as she later recalls, “I could not be picky. I do not think I ever turned down any writing jobs no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.” She says, “Marie Brown, my agent at the time, pitched me to Vy Higginsen and to Scholastic,” and the experience went so well that “the editor talked about my doing another book for her.” Thus, she remembers, “writing for the young found me and I found myself loving it more and more.” Children's books in general are important to this process, she argues, but she has stated elsewhere that nonfiction, especially historical nonfiction, is especially key to such a project. “What I came to understand as an adult,” she explains, “is that there is power in the past. Knowing history can be a powerful antidote to shame/self-hatred/identity-confusion.” Although not nearly as widespread in her work, Christianity is also a common theme, especially within the context of Black American experiences. In an interview with BlackandChristian.com, Bolden notes that The Black Church has influenced me in a number of ways. In terms of history, it helped my people survive and build-up. In terms of my writing, the music of the Black Church (from the spirituals to gospel) and the tones and rhythms of classic black preaching have become part of my “vocabulary.” It's hard to articulate and even pinpoint, but I know that my style of writing has been influenced by the culture of the Black Church.

Papers One box of Bolden's papers (consisting of production materials for three of her books) has been donated to the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Books The Family Heirloom Cookbook (Putnam, 1990) Mama, I Want to Sing (Scholastic, 1992) (Co-author with Vy Higginsen) Starting a Business from Your Home (Longmeadow, 1993) Conversations: Straight Talk with America's Sister President (Doubleday, 1993) (Collaborator for Johnnetta B. Cole) Activity Booklet for Sweet Honey In The Rock recording I Got Shoes (Music For Little People, 1994) (Co-author with Bernice Johnson Reagon) Educator’s Guide for Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions (26-part broadcast; NPR, 1994) (Co-author with Bernice Johnson Reagon, et al.) Mail-Order and Direct Response (Longmeadow, 1994) Rites of Passage: Stories About Growing Up by Black Writers From Around the World (Hyperion, 1994) (editor) The Book of African-American Women: 150 Crusaders, Creators, and Uplifters (Adams, 1996) Just Family (novel; Cobblehill, 1996) Through Loona's Door: A Tammy and Owen Adventure with Carter G. Woodson (Corporation for Cultural Literacy, 1997) And Not Afraid to Dare: The Stories of Ten African-American Women (Scholastic, 1998) 33 Things Every Girl Should Know: Stories, Songs, Poems, and Smart Talk by 33 Extraordinary Women (Crown, 1998) (editor) Strong Men Keep Coming: The Book of African-American Men (Wiley, 1999) Forgive or Forget: Never Underestimate the Power of Forgiveness (HarperCollins, 1999) (Co-author with Mother Love) Rejuvenate! (It’s Never Too Late) (Scribner/A Lisa Drew Book, 2001) (Co-author with Eartha Kitt) Rock of Ages: A Tribute to the Black Church (Knopf, 2001; Dell Dragonfly, 2003) Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories & Mementos of Being Young and Black in America (Abrams Books, 2001) 33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women’s History (Crown, 2002) (editor) American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm (Crown, 2003) (Co-author with Gail Buckley: young readers’ edition) Chaka! Through the Fire (Rodale, 2003) (Co-author with Chaka Khan) Portraits of African-American Heroes (Dutton, 2003; Puffin Books, 2005) Wake Up Our Souls: A Celebration of Black American Artists (Abrams, 2004) The Champ: The Story of Muhammad Ali (Knopf, 2004; Dragonfly Books, 2007) Maritcha: A Nineteenth Century American Girl (Abrams, 2005) Cause: Reconstruction America, 1863-1877 (Knopf, 2005) Weddings Valentine Style (Atria, 2006) (Co-author with Diann Valentine) Half the Mother, Twice the Love: My Journey to Better Health with Diabetes (Atria, 2006) (Co-author with Mother Love) MLK: Journey of a King (Abrams, 2006) Take-Off: America All-Girl Bands During WWII (Knopf, 2007) George Washington Carver (Abrams, 2008) Say A Little Prayer (Running Press, 2008) (Co-author with Dionne Warwick and David Freeman Wooley) W. E. B. Du Bois: A Twentieth-Century Life (Viking, 2008) FDR’s Alphabet Soup: New Deal America, 1932-1939 (Knopf, 2010) Finding Family (Bloomsbury, 2010) Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty (Abrams, 2013) 12 Days of New York (Abrams, 2013) Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America (Abrams, 2014) Beautiful Moon: A Child’s Prayer (Abrams, 2014) Capital Days: Michael Shiner’s Journal and the Growth of Our Nation’s Capital (Abrams, 2015) This Kid Can Fly (Balzer + Bray, 2016) (Co-author with Aaron Philip) How to Build a Museum: Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (Viking, 2016) Pathfinders: The Journeys of 16 Extraordinary Black Souls (Abrams, 2017) Crossing Ebenezer Creek (Bloomsbury, 2017) Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man (Abrams, 2017) Inventing Victoria (Bloomsbury, 2019)

Awards and honors In 2016, Bolden received the Nonfiction Award for Body of Work from the Children's Book Guild of Washington, DC. Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America NAACP Image Award Nominee Best Multicultural Children's Book, Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature California Reading Association Eureka! Honor Book Wisconsin Reading Association Recommended Book NCSS Carter G. Woodson Honor Award Beautiful Moon: A Child's Prayer NAACP Image Award Nominee Charlotte Zolotow Award Honor Book ALSC Notable Children's Book