Today we’d like to introduce you to Moses Hardie, III.
Hi Moses, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’d say my focus on children’s books came at the birth of my firstborn in 2014. Like most parents, my first urges were to buy her everything I saw, especially if it had brown faces on it. It was important to me that she saw what I felt I didn’t as a kid; faces she could identify with that weren’t background or “supporting” characters. I started writing a book about her and, admittedly, didn’t finish it. That is until my youngest was born a year later. It was then that I changed the book into a story about them both. My only thought was to have a book they saw faces like theirs in but that also had their names in it to keep their attention when reading it to them. Upon showing it to friends that were also parents who loved it, it slowly went from a handful of books to a room full of boxes of books to sell. Each book has been a learning experience and each continues to have a main character that is black.
Today, I’m now on my 7th book, “Kayla with the Curls”.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some of the initial struggles were just from a lack of knowledge. Being self-published has its pros and cons like anything else and I don’t think I recognized early on how much work getting your story in the hands of many took without a publisher backing you. A lot of my learning has come from other seasoned authors but mostly from consumers. They’ll let you know what groups aren’t being served, what writing styles they’re used to, what things appeal to the age groups you’re marketing to, etc.
As you know, we’re big fans of Butter Bird Books, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The goal or mission of Butter Bird Books is simple. It’s to continue to nurture representation for black children, not only as characters in books but as MAIN characters in books. Our children should be able to see themselves as the hero or the star in a story and not just the “black friend” or as a small brown dot in the background.
Currently, Butter Bird Books serves as just the company behind my books but its goal is to become a publisher of books for all age groups with the continued focus on the black community.
What matters most to you? Why?
A changed narrative… My daughters are still young, of course, but at an even earlier age, when they’d attend Halloween parties and dress-up functions, all they were inundated with were Elsa costumes and Beauty and the Beast. They were indirectly being fed that long flowing blonde hair (or silver in Elsa’s case) was the measure of beauty. Outside of Doc McStuffins… they really didn’t have any characters that were reflections of them. I want little black girls and boys to beg their parents to be the beautiful characters that look just like what they see in the mirror.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.KaylaWithTheCurls.com
- Instagram: @KaylaWithTheCurlsbook, @butterbirdbooks
- Other: Tik tok: @KaylaWithTheCurlsbook
Image Credits
Photo credit: (main photo) Drea Nicole Photography (www.dreanicole.com, @dreanicolephotography) Photo credit: (Blue shirt w/ daughters) Jaxon Photo Group (www.jaxonphotogroup.com, @jaxonphotogroup)
