Illustrated Children's Book about the Delany Sisters Is Back in Print
December 11, 2023
Greetings to Everyone -
Sometimes, being persistent really pays off!
Twenty years ago, after the publication of my oral history Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, I wrote an illustrated children's version called The Delany Sisters Reach High. ("Reach High" was the family motto.) Although the children's book got great reviews and was profitable for the publisher, it went out of print for reasons I have never understood.
I've been on the lookout for a new publisher for it ever since, and I found one at last. It turns out that two gerontologists, Dr. Tina M.K. Newsham at The University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Dr. Cynthia Hancock at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, had been using the book as part of a special project in public elementary schools. A graduate student contacted me to ask if I knew where they could get more copies, because it was becoming increasingly hard to find them second-hand. I explained that I was looking for a new publisher, and by the way, did they know of one?
One thing led to another. The book was accepted for publication by the University of North Carolina Press on behalf of these two determined gerontologists, and an equally determined author (yours truly) and illustrator (Tim Ladwig).
This feels like a little Christmas miracle to me. It wasn't easy to unravel the rights with the previous publisher (thank you, John Firestone, my attorney in NY who made that happen). John McLeod of the UNC Press steered us through all the steps there.
The result is that as of December 1, The Delany Sisters Reach High is available again. It can be ordered from the UNC Press or any online bookstore. Or, ask for it from your locally-owned bookshop. If they don't have it, I'm sure they'll get it for you.
The book, geered to ages 5 to 12, will be available in paperback for $12. We worked hard to keep the cost of the book as low as possible.
Here's the link to the UNC Press page about the book:
And a link to Amazon:
There is something especially fitting about the book being published in North Carolina since that was the Delany Sisters' home state. I couldn't be happier. And I know that Sadie and Bessie are smiling down from the Spirit World.
Best wishes & happy reading!
-Amy