Today’s Readers, Tomorrow’s Graduates

June 11, 2014

BMCC Ethnic Studies Professor Zetta Elliott has just released four books for young readers, all from Rosetta Press.

Tackling subjects such as a child’s difficulty accepting a divorced parent’s new partner and a boy’s problematic love of doll making, The Boy in the Bubble, Max Loves Muñecas!, Room in My Heart and The Phoenix on Barclay Street also present elements of urban fantasy.

“Many BMCC students don’t read recreationally because somewhere along the way they learned that reading isn’t fun. That presents a real challenge for me as a professor because good readers make good writers,” says Professor Elliott, whose first picture book, Bird, was selected as a New Voices Award winner by Lee & Low Books, and whose novel Ship of Souls was a finalist for the 2013 Phillis Wheatley Book Award and Booklist Sci-Fi/Fantasy Youth Title.

“My goal is to reach students at that critical stage when they’re starting to turn away from books. If I can ‘hook’ them while they’re young, I think more children will grow into strong readers, better writers, and future college graduates.”

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