Growing up , I was hooked on School House Rock . Oh , don ’ t act like you don ’ t remember those Saturday morning specials that helped us learn without us even realize we were learning . By singing School House Rock ’ s catchy little tunes over and over , I learned the different parts of speech through songs like “ Verb ! That ’ s what ’ s happening !”, “ Lolly , Lolly , Lolly , Get Your Adverbs Here ”, “ Conjunction Junction , What ’ s Your Function ?” Remember the “ I ’ m just a Bill ” song ? What little child knows how a bill gets passed on Capitol Hill ? We did ! I memorized my timestable through the School House Rock songs and cartoons , even the song that said “ Three is the magic number ”.
Back when I was an author who had been in the industry for a short while , a woman named Pam Nelson of Levy Home Entertainment taught me that 19 was actually the magic number ; at least it was for the literary careers of several Black authors chosen for an epic life-changing event .
Pam was the brainchild behind the Wal * Mart Soul Expressions Tour . Authors who came from ten different publishers and who wrote in a range of genres came together to travel across the Midwest for a 4-day , 12-store tour . At the time , more effort was being put into promoting authors whose hues didn ’ t necessarily match my own . Cruise ship book tours like Get Caught Reading at Sea , as well as luxury bus tours , had been a staple of connecting mainstream authors to readers in big box retailers — but their focus had never been on Black authors . Only L . A . Banks made the cut on some of those tours , and those efforts crossed her over