"I always call my own bluff," said author Betty Bynum. "I tell my kids that if you don't like something, do something about it. Don't complain--do something about it in your own way."
Bynum, who works primarily as a screenwriter and actress, called her own bluff when she wrote I'm a Pretty Little Black Girl, a children's book about a young black girl named Mia. After waking up with her hair tangled and disheveled, Mia, instead of finding it unappealing, thinks, "I'm a pretty little black girl!" From there, she goes to school with her friends, who are other little black girls of varying skin tones and hair types.
"There have been books out there with little black girls in them," Bynum said. "But they don't address the issues of skin tone and hair in a joyful and celebratory manner like this book does. There's Pinkalicious and Strawberry Freckleface and all that great stuff, but no book with a little black girl starring in her own story. I said, you know, I'm going to write that."
Mia's name, in fact, comes from the abbreviation M.I.A., or missing in action. "She wasn't on bookshelves," Bynum recounted, laughing. "I called her Mia because she had to show up."
Bynum never expected to write a children's book; she was 600 pages into a novel before diving into I'm a Pretty Little Black Girl. Before securing a publisher, Bynum drew interest from Target, which wanted Bynum to write two more books similar to I'm a Pretty Little Black Girl. Bynum then found a publisher, but the publisher wanted to do only one book. The real "dealbreaker," Bynum said, came when Bynum and the publisher had to agree on an illustrator.
"They didn't want me to communicate with him at all," she said. "They wanted me to go through them. But I had to talk to him. Otherwise he's going to have issues with skin tone and hair textures. It's complicated, and it has to be very specific. If that wasn't done right, people would know it's not right. The book would fail."
Bynum decided to publish the books herself, through Dreamtitle Publishing, and after some initial difficulties finding an illustrator she could work with, met Claire Armstrong-Parod via the recommendation of an artist friend. "Some artists can be a bit temperamental," said Bynum diplomatically. "But Claire is just so wonderful and so incredibly talented and patient."
The three-book deal with Target includes two more titles, I'm a Lovely Little Latina Girl and Hooray I'm a Girl in the USA, due out in spring 2014 and fall 2014, respectively. Beyond that, Bynum has planned three more books for each girl in the series. She also wants to grow the brand with a line of dolls and apparel, which she hopes to launch in time for Christmas. A sculpting of the dolls has been made already; as Bynum put it, all that's needed now is to "add some clothes."
I'm a Pretty Little Black Girl reached stores on October 7, and Bynum has been thrilled with the response. She's seen word of mouth spread through social media, been featured in Essence magazine and PW, and drawn interest to appear on the Queen Latifah Show. Bynum has also made appearances in the Los Angeles area, including a visit and talk at the California African American Museum, and is in the process of connecting with local schools and libraries. The plan is to establish a base in Southern California before gradually bringing the book across country.
"It's been a nice slow burn," said Bynum. "People are hitting me up on Facebook and Twitter, sending me messages saying they're buying five or six copies and saving them for Christmas gifts. It's been really sweet." --Alex Mutter
