Sacramento author aims to inspire through Black culture. Her new book publishes next week
One of the reasons Sacramento author Crystel Patterson continues to write children’s books is that she believes “books don’t go out of style” when it comes to child development.
Patterson, 35, aims to inspire children to break free from limitations and aspire to achieve great things with the Dec. 26 release of her fourth children’s book, titled “Too Young to What?”
The book is the latest edition to her “Inspired to Be” series. Patterson wrote them with a goal to teach the culture, experiences and dreams of Black people while expanding the imagination of children.
She began to write in 2020 when one of her sons asked her “why does the police keep killing Black people?” The question motivated Patterson, a wife and mother of two sons, to create something inspirational for her children.
This interview was edited for brevity.
Q: Tell me about “Too Young to What?” and how you came up with the concept.
A: All of my books are inspired by someone or an event. This one is based on my favorite artist, a Trinidadian artist named Machel Montano. He started out as a musician doing soca music at the age of 7. His first album was called “Too Young to Soca?” The reason he named it that was because everyone was telling him he was too young to actually pursue music like that. Today, he’s known as the “King of Soca”. It inspired me and made me realize there’s so much you can accomplish when you just do something, you have an idea you do it and you don’t let anybody tell you that you’re too young to do it. I thought that was a great message for kids.
Q: What is it like to be pursuing something that you’re passionate about?
A: I used to say that writing was never a passion for me. It was never something that I felt super energized by. Something was different with this because of the reason why I started writing. Once I felt like I needed to do this, it just was something that I fell in love with and now getting to see people respond to my work is the best thing.
Q: What have those responses been like and what’s been your reaction?
A: I was at an event and I heard a family reference my book “One Flip, Two Flip, Three Flip, Four” and a mother and her 2-year-old daughter started reciting the book. The mom told me how her daughter loves the book, it’s one of her favorites and she wants to read it all the time. It just made me smile so hard and tear up because one of my goals is to put messages in books that kids are going to remember. I’ve heard teachers talk about how that book in particular is helping kids learn how to read. It feels incredible to know I’m making a difference.
Q: Where can people purchase the book?
A: The book will be released on Dec 26. It’s also the first day of Kwanzaa. And right now the book is ready for pre-orders on my website, but on Dec. 26 it goes live everywhere. So if you prefer to shop on Amazon, Target, Walmart, or wherever you like to buy your books it is going to be available.
Q: Do you believe this is your best work so far?
A: I feel like with every book, I get a little better. I’m not a professional writer. But I do think this is the best yet from the other collections. I think this is the best so far. The best is still yet to come. Out of what I’ve put out so far, I feel super, super proud of this. I’m looking back and I’m seeing my growth.
Q: What’s something that you want people to know about the book?
A: I want to write for the little kids because I feel like that’s when you can really make a difference in their thinking. However, I think this book is for anybody, right? Even if you’re 30 you’re still not too late to chase your dreams.
This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 9:54 AM.
