Best-selling coloring book series turns overlooked Black history into an intergenerational learning experience and challenges children to imagine what they will create next.
Nationwide — Virginia-based author and entrepreneur Jacqueline J. Spratley is encouraging parents, grandparents, and educators to give children something that can entertain them, educate them, and inspire them to imagine their own place in history. Created and published through Lady J’s Kingdom of Music, Inc. / LJKofM Boutique, the collection (pictured above) consists of Melanated Geniuses Vol. 1, Melanated Geniuses Vol. 2, and Melanated Geniuses Vol. 3. Featuring over 100 Black inventors, the collection introduces children and adults to Black inventors whose ingenuity and contributions have helped shape American life.
These are LJKofM Boutique’s best-selling coloring books, with grandparents among the most enthusiastic customers, purchasing the books for their grandchildren. One memorable customer, a retired schoolteacher over the age of 70, discovered Black inventors in the collection whom she had never learned about, demonstrating just how much of this history remains unfamiliar even to generations of educated adults. The final page of each Melanated Geniuses coloring book asks the reader one simple but intentional question: “What would you like to create, invent, or become one day?”
“I don’t want children to finish these books simply knowing that somebody else invented something,” said Spratley. “I want them to understand that ingenuity didn’t end with the people on these pages. The next inventor, scientist, engineer, entrepreneur or innovator could be the child holding the book.” She hopes that learning about Black inventors will help children recognize a legacy of intelligence, creativity, innovation, problem-solving and possibility.
A Meaningful Gift Beyond Toys and Electronics
The collection can serve as a gift for children and grandchildren as well as an educational resource for families, educators, homeschoolers, churches, youth organizations and community programs. The complete Melanated Geniuses Collection is available for $30. This includes all three coloring books plus a complimentary matching drawstring bag. Shipping is additional.
“Children need to know what came before them, but they also need to believe in what can come through them,” said Spratley. “Melanated Geniuses celebrates the Black inventors who came before us while asking the next generation a very important question: What will you create?”
To learn more or purchase the collection, visit LJKofMBoutique.com
About
Jacqueline J. Spratley is an author, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and founder of Lady J’s Kingdom of Music, Inc. and LJKofM Boutique, a Virginia-based creative business producing original educational coloring books, apparel, gifts, and specialty merchandise. Through projects including the Melanated Geniuses Coloring Book Collection, the Author uses creativity, education, and entrepreneurship to develop products intended to inform, inspire, and encourage people across generations.
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