Any ebook by poet and writer extraordinaire Nikki Grimes is supposed to be savored; her forthcoming title, A Cup of Quiet, isn’t any exception. Faculty Library Journal characterizes this intergenerational image ebook as a “heartfelt story of time shared with household” that may “encourage creativeness and exploration.” Kirkus Evaluations describes it as “playful, soothing, and delightful.” I say it’s lyrical, love-filled, and the proper lap time learn.
The Brown Bookshelf is honored to be the primary cease on Nikki’s digital ebook tour for A Cup of Quiet. Try our interview with the prolific, multi-award-winning writer beneath!
TFB: Hello Nikki! We’re so honored you determined to launch your digital tour with The Brown Bookshelf! After I first obtained a replica of your ebook, I used to be instantly struck by the title. “A cup of quiet” is an unfamiliar flip of phrase for me. What’s the backstory on it? Did you develop up listening to it? How did it encourage this story?
NG: “A cup of quiet” is a phrase I conjured up. Take into consideration how typically somebody affords you a cup of tea, or a cup of espresso, to encourage you to cease, take a minute, breathe. However, what if, as an alternative, somebody supplied you a cup of quiet? That’s what nature affords us, day-after-day. I exhale each time I step out into my backyard, even for a couple of minutes. I take a sip of quiet, and it helps me to loosen up, and to middle myself. I suppose the concept for the ebook, and the title, got here from moments like that.
TFB: Why is it necessary for youths to expertise moments of quiet frequently? How can adults create environments or routines that encourage this?
NG: All of us must expertise each day moments of quiet. The crazier the world will get, the extra we’d like it. That’s as true for kids as it’s for adults. I’m no knowledgeable, however I believe as adults, a very powerful factor we are able to do is mannequin this follow for the kids in our lives. Which means routinely making area in our day to step outdoors, to go for a stroll, to go to a park, to go to a close-by botanical backyard, to go for a hike, sit close to a lake or the ocean, listening to waves lapping the shore, or spending time within the backyard tuning in to the soothing sounds of birdsong, and wind ruffling the leaves of bushes, and the excitement of bees. This follow helps us to be extra affected person, higher listeners, calmer, and—in the end—clearer pondering and extra productive after we step again into the circulate of life.
TFB: So many advantages to touching grass, as they are saying. A Cup of Quiet isn’t your first image ebook to convey the thrill youngsters expertise by interacting with nature. Why is it necessary so that you can write tales like these, that encourage youngsters to develop a behavior of exploring the pure world?
NG: Spending time in nature is a good and easy solution to restore ourselves, to re-group, to heal, to middle ourselves—and it’s free. It’s a mode of self-care we are able to all afford and might all make the most of. By participating in nature we are able to develop survival abilities, strengthen our our bodies, decrease our blood strain, handle our weight, and improve good psychological well being. And nature has a lot to show us, about dwelling in neighborhood (watch the ants), about working collectively (research the bees), about creating one thing lovely and helpful from scraps (have you ever checked out a chicken’s nest, these days?) So, serving to our kids develop the follow of spending time in nature is to present them a significant, dwelling supply of information—a treasure that may final their lifetime.
TFB: Let’s speak concerning the lovely, whimsical artwork within the ebook. What do you assume Cathy Ann Johnson’s fanciful illustrations add to the storytelling and reader expertise?
NG: Cathy Ann’s work invitations readers into the story to expertise a second of quiet, reminding them to be nonetheless and see the whistle of wind, or the whir of a hummingbird’s wings. She makes the expertise of exploring nature appear to be enjoyable, which after all it’s! Her work additionally celebrates loving, joyful relationships with a grandparent.
TFB: One of many issues I discover most fascinating about A Cup of Quiet is how the bond between grandmother and granddaughter is revealed by means of a shared affinity for imaginative language and play. How do youngsters profit when the adults of their lives encourage and be a part of of their inventive expressions?
NG: After we encourage and be a part of youngsters of their inventive lives and pursuits, we educate them the worth of these pursuits. We present them respect for creativity, for the humanities, for the world of the creativeness, and, in impact, educate them that that is good. By so doing, we plant in them a lifelong love of the humanities, and of the inventive world. That world will proceed to be a supply of pleasure for them, particularly by means of these difficult instances when having an avenue by means of which to faucet into pleasure is most wanted.
TFB: That’s some well timed knowledge, Nikki. Extraordinarily well timed. Are you able to give us the inside track on a few of your upcoming initiatives?
NG: My pleasure! I can share two of them that I’m enthusiastic about. First, my Dyamonde Daniel chapter ebook collection is rising. Loser, E book #5 will launch on June third. And second, in 2026, I’m wanting ahead to Stronger Than, co-written with Choctaw writer Stacy Wells, and illustrated by E. B. Lewis. On this ebook a Black Choctaw boy discovers the tales of his ancestors, one a survivor of the Path of Tears, and the opposite a survivor of the Tulsa Race Bloodbath. Their tales educate him that he comes from stronger inventory than he knew, and this data helps him to beat one in all his fears.
A Cup of Quiet formally releases on April 15, 2025, however you’ll be able to pre-order your copy in the present day. It’s also possible to comply with Nikki Grimes on Bluesky, Instagram, and the remainder of her digital tour for an opportunity to enter and win a number of ebook giveaways:
