I grew up in New York City, born in Harlem, raised in the Bronx. In, kindergarten, we made our first books. As we named the alphabet, we did pictures for each letter and when we reached the letter Z, the teacher gave us construction paper. We sewed the pages together and she said, “You just published an alphabet book. You’re the author, the illustrator, the binder. Take it home, you’re the distributor as well.” Now, when I brought that book home I got so much praise for it, I could hardly wait to go back to kindergarten and publish more books. When we learned numbers we did pictures for each number, sewed it together, and had a numbers book. We learned to spell words: boy, cat, hat, block; then sewed it together with our word book.
I continued making books from kindergarten on. I’ve never stopped. All through the years I made books as gifts, as presents for family and friends. I continued that into college, taking a course in book illustration as well. It had always been a part of my life as an artist, drawing and painting and making little books as gifts.