2017 Shout Mouse Press Year-in-Review
Happy New Year!
Help us celebrate the new year by donating to our cause and helping meet our year-end fundraising goal.
Diane, Darne'sha, and Mario talk about writing for the stage after the show.
Ballou Story Project
This year, Ballou Story Project hit the stage for the very first time. We partnered with Young Playwrights’ Theater to adapt Ballou Senior High School student stories for the stage. Powerful stories about love, loss, and triumph were performed by professional actors. This April performance with three encore performances reached almost 800 people!
The girls of Beacon House being interviewed by WUSA9 reporter
The Day Tajon Got Shot
This year, Beacon House authors completed and published our most ambitious project yet, a 200+ page novel-in-stories about the impact of a police-involved shooting on a community. The tale is told from the perspectives of both the shooting victim and the police officer, as well as other members of the community. The teenage girls who wrote the #BlackLivesMatter-inspired story have made radio and TV appearances. The book has also been reviewed several times with rave responses.
A photo from summer 2017 graphic memoir workshop.
Latin American Youth Center
This summer, we completed our first workshops with the Latin American Youth Center’s Latin Youth Leadership Council. The project will result in SMP’s first-ever graphic memoir collection, titled Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth, to be released in March 2018 at the Virginia Festival of the Book.
Mikala shows off her new book.
Reach Incorporated
For the fifth year in a row, SMP collaborated with the teen tutors of Reach Incorporated to write four brand-new children’s books. These books feature diverse characters and experiences. In the 2017 series, find an array of characters: a child with an incarcerated parent, a hyperactive student, a girl with a stutter and a “talking” dog, and a resourceful third-grader with a real talent for rhinestones.
A new reader with his copy of "A to Z"
New Readers
Our books have been in major demand lately. In addition to being in all of DCPS libraries, we’ve had some cool opportunities this year. Thanks to SHARE fund and Inner City, Inner Child, 3,000 (!) copies of A to Z: The Real DC are in the hands of young readers across DC. Also, five Reach Incorporated children’s books are soon going to be in federal prison waiting rooms across the country. One Lonely Camel, Spanky the Pup: All Dogs Must Go, Deena Misses Her Mom, Khalil’s Swagtown Adventure, and A Little Girl in a Big, Big World, will be made available through a collaboration with DC Books to Prisons and thanks to the generous support of the Reach Incorporated Board.
Coming in 2018
After such a big year, it’s hard to imagine how much bigger things can get. Our catalog now holds 29 books, we have six nonprofit partners, and a growing fanbase. Stay tuned for news about a new project with Muslim American youth and the launch of Voces Sin Fronteras.