Author Spotlight: Dorena Williamson

I am always looking for new books, authors, and publishers to highlight for the read aloud project. The other day, my father and I were talking about my project and he mentioned how his former high school classmate, Dorena Williamson, was a children’s book author. This led me to look up some of her books and I was amazed by them. In her books, Williamson uses her experience as a worship leader to address important topics like race and justice. She currently has three published children’s books that can be found below.

ColorFull: Celebrating the Colors God Gave Us

“Imani and Kayla are the best of friends who are learning to celebrate their different skin colors. As they look around them at the amazing colors in nature, they can see that their skin is another example of God's creativity! This joyful story takes a new approach to discussing race: instead of being colorblind, we can choose to celebrate each color God gave us and be colorFULL instead.”

ThoughtFull: Discovering the Unique Gifts in Each of Us

“ In this delightful story, it's awards day at school, and Ahanu (a boy with Down Syndrome) earns the award for being thoughtful. Later, when his friend Joshua sees others making fun of Ahanu, it's Joshua's turn to be thoughtful by supporting his differently abled friend. While doing so, Joshua learns important lessons about friendship, disabilities, and the value we each have as God's children.”

GraceFull: Growing A Heart That Cares for Our Neighbors 

“Hope and Anna love seeing each other at church. When a Sunday grace offering is collected to help lift up Anna’s homeless family, Hope begins to ask questions and has a unique opportunity to learn what grace looks like, both for her and for Anna’s immigrant family. This touching story teaches children that God showers grace that is meant to be shared—allowing us all to be GraceFull!”

I look forward to reading these books for the project and I hope you all enjoy them as well!

*The summaries above were provided by B&H Publishing.