Shannon Gibney is a Minn. educator and activist, and the award-winning author of books including The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be and See No Color.
Her new book is Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight. It's a picture book, suitable for those ages 5-9.
In the story, Sam grows uncomfortable with the arguments between his Liberian father and African-American mother over what to have for dinner, each turning their noses up at the other's favorite foods.
Sam finds a way to bring peace to the dinner table.
Gibney was inspired by her son to write the story. She noted there's not many books about the diasporic family experience in America. Food is one of the many things these families must figure out, so this book is important in letting these families and kids know they're not the only ones dealing with this.
The illustrations in the book were done by artist Charly Palmer. Because Palmer painted each page, it took him six years to complete the artwork.
“The process of writing and publishing books — it makes you more patient and certainly when I saw the incredible images that Charly Palmer did come up with for my book, I was just so pleased that he took his time," Gibney said.
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