Oshún and Me: Book Launch and Illustrator Thoughts

Oshún and Me: A Story of Love and Braids, written by Adiba Nelson with beautiful illustrations by Alleanna Harris, is out now. Kirkus calls it, “pure, unadulterated joy,” and describes Harris’ illustrations as “warm” as they illuminate smalll details throughout the story.

To celebrate the release, author Adiba Nelson hosted a book launch at the Childrens Museum in Tuscon, complete with african drumming, a braiding workshop, read-aloud, and more. Nelsen was also featured promoting the book on NPR with Mark Mclemore.

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The books illustrator, Alleanna Harris, shares her thoughts on the success of the books release:

“I am so happy with the success of the launch of Oshún and Me! I feel honored that Adiba and the team at MacKids books would trust me with illustrating little Yadira’s story and Oshún’s story too. It also means a lot to me that there are Black kids, Afro-latinx kids, an disabled kids out there who see themselves in this book. It’s a unique story and I’m glad that people are excited to read it.”

When asked what she wanted readers to take away from this story, Alleanna says,

“I wanted readers to understand that even though Yadira is disabled, that’s not a major plot point of the story! Also, Adiba talks a little bit about it at the back of the book, but we often see Greek mythology in our tv shows, movies, and books. We less often learn about West African mythology. I want readers to learn about Oshún and in turn want to learn more about other gods and goddesses in the West African pantheon”

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