GENRE: **Diverse, Lyrical, NF
WORDS: 350
Query:
Dear PBParty people,
Hip Hop! What is it? Who is it? Where does it come from? A funky fresh look at the makers, movement, and music at the birth of a culture.
Long before Hip Hop became a world-wide cultural phenomenon, it started with graffiti, DJing, MCing, and breaking. BOOGIE DOWN: THE BIRTH OF HIP HOP is a 350-word nonfiction picture book in lyrical voice that takes readers to the South Bronx in the 1970s, where Black and Brown youth nurtured seeds in the rubble to build community and reclaim space in difficult times. An earlier version of this manuscript won Honorable Mention in the 2024 Ann Whitford Paul SCBWI Awards.
BOOGIE DOWN will appeal to readers of Breaking to the Beat by Linda J. Acevedo, Welcome to the Cypher by Khodi Dill, and Boogie Boogie, Y’all by C.G. Esperanza.
I am a graduate of University of California San Diego’s Extended Studies Children’s Book Writing and Illustration programs and have been a member of SCBWI since 2021. For over twenty years, I’ve worked as a Teaching Artist, specializing in Arts Integration, helping teachers bring lessons to life with visual art and dance.
In addition to BOOGIE DOWN: THE BIRTH OF HIP HOP, I have three other picture book manuscripts ready for submission.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Excerpt:
[Youth play in a dilapidated urban landscape]
1970s South Bronx,
New York, New York, USA,
the Boogie Down birthplace of Hip Hop.
Kids, mostly Black and Brown, refuse to lose,
choosing joy in a broken world,
creating community from collapse.
Seeds in the rubble.
[Stylish dancers and DJs]
More than get by, they get down
and gather ‘round
to sounds they’ve heard before,
but never quite like this.
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
As a first-generation immigrant growing up in the 1980s, breakdancing and rap helped me and my peers—children of US Navy servicemen from the Philippines—become more American by connecting us with each other in our new home. We spent countless hours singing along to rap hits, practicing moves, and trying to be as cool as Turbo from the Breakin’ movies.
BOOGIE DOWN: THE BIRTH OF HIP HOP is a love letter to the culture that gave me friends in childhood and continues to provide inspiration for my work as a Teaching Artist.
Leave a Reply