Mindful Monday's Black Boy Joy Author Spotlight

This week we are spotlighting Playing With Angels series Author:Murlonda Janelle and talking all things surrounding black boys and reading.

Nurturing Amir:Hi, Mindful Fam! We are back with another Mindful Mondays. Today, we are interviewing MJ, the author of the Playing with Angels series, in celebration of Black Children's Book Week. Thank you for joining us today, MJ.

MJ:Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here.

Nurturing Amir:Thank you. So we’re going to get right into it. I want to know—what inspired you to start your Playing with Angels series?

MJ:My inspiration came from my four nephews. I have four male nephews. Of course, I mean, that's nephews, but I was trying to encourage them to read because I love reading. I will read anywhere at any time. And as they saw me reading, they were not readers. So I was like, if you can't find something, you invent it. So as I was looking out for books for boys only, something that they could relate to, everything had either...some type of animal or they had superheroes. So I wanted them to be able to see themselves in books. So I started writing.

Nurturing Amir:I love that. How old are your nephews, if you don’t mind me asking?

MJ: Man, Let’s see—two of them are 10, and then one is in ninth grade, and one is in sixth or seventh grade. It’s hard for me to keep up with their ages!

Nurturing Amir: lol So they're big boys. Okay. Do they know that they are the why behind you starting your book series?

MJ:Yes, so I told him after the first book I I surprised and showed them the book series. They were ecstatic. They were like, oh my gosh, that's us? And I was like, yes, that's you. So the characters have their middle names (not their first names) and the characters have their personality.

Nurturing Amir: I love that you used their middle names! Since your series is all about Black Boy Joy, why do you think it’s important—especially in children’s literature—that we showcase Black Boy Joy? With my own book series, my son Amir is the main character, and I noticed there’s really a lack of African American children’s books, especially ones focused on young Black boys.

MJ:So initially when I wrote about them, I just wanted characters and I wanted to make it real easy. So I used characters that I saw. But, as I went out into advertising for the book, marketing and getting people to read the book, there was none out there, I was like, okay, I found a niche that's not there. I found this empty space. And as I saw parents get excited,Teachers are getting excited and then just students getting excited that there are books that they could relate to and that they can see themselves in. I mean, I was like, okay, I have to keep going. And it was literally a little boy in a classroom one day and he was arguing with me that I wrote that book and he was the character.

Nurturing Amir:That would make me feel warm inside.

MJ:Yes. It did. It really did. Now that same little boy also told me I did not look like my picture, but hey, it's okay.

Nurturing Amir:Kids speak their minds. Like they have no filter. I am learning this while being a mother. I've been around kids my whole life, but my son teaches me they have no filter. Like they speak their mind but they're so innocent. They don't know, but they will speak their mind and do not understand. You gotta have little filter sometimes, but that's amazing. That's really amazing. So with your book series, what do you want young black boys to learn from your books while they're reading them?

MJ:So in general, I feel that reading is so important. It's allowed me to get where I am today because a lot of times you're out in the world and you're just going as you know it to be or as your parents know it to be or teachers. But allowing yourself to go into a library or just read literature, it expands your knowledge base. So for our black boys who do not get that extra attention, I want them to develop the love of reading.So, that even if they don't actually love it, they will appreciate what it does for them. Allowing it to educate them or let them be seen is promoting that education. I want them to get just a general basis of, appreciate literature and what it has done for me.

Nurturing Amir:And you're playing with Angel series, lines up with sports. Where did you come up with that idea for the books? Was it because it's for boys or where did you come up with that idea?

MJ: Yeah, it was because it's for boys. I was like I need to give them something that they could relate to a little bit and I don't know if boys are realizing that besides just like the cover and maybe a little sports reference, I don't know that much about sports. I'm just using sports to keep their attention and then I'm implementing some type of life lesson. So with the first one, I talk about being yourself and not copying off of other people. I mean, social media is amazing, but it's created this culture where we feel like we have to be like someone else. And then my second book I talk about disappointments happen. I'm disappointed all the time. I mean not on purpose, but how do you push past it? How do you get through it? And then my third book that I recently released last weekend, it just it talks about don't be jealous of people. You are who you are unapologetically and you're great as you are so.

Nurturing Amir: Yeah, I love that. And I love the themes surrounding your book. What advice would you give to parents that are wanting to instill a love of reading in young boys, specifically young Black boys? What advice would you give to parents?

Nurturing Amir:And being that you are a Black author, and we're doing this interview in celebration of Black Children's Book Week, why do you think it's important that not just us as Black people, but everyone celebrates Black Children's Book Week? Why do you think it's so important?

MJ: I think it's important because as a black culture, we never shine the light on ourselves except for maybe February or into certain periods. But there's so much knowledge that can be gained from us as a culture. We're naturally innovators. We naturally see an issue and we respond to it and we develop something or product or service from it. So we have to remember that the importance of finding, I'm not going to say problems, but finding some lacks or some empty spaces. Black people have been known for solving those issues. So celebrate the people who are making the world a better place through literature, through products, through services. And you can read about it, yet you can also just learn about it through other people. Yeah.

Nurturing Amir:Mm-hmm. Yep, that's true. And then how would you engage with, well, give tips for parents or caregivers or educators to engage and kind of debunk that stereotype of reading and boys don't kind of go together. Like, boys don't like to read. What tips would you give to someone to kind of debunk that with their kids or whether it's in the classroom? What tips would you have?

MJ:Well, for one, that's what my series is about. Boys don't read because they don't feel, they feel like it's too girlish or boys are known to be active and they don't wanna sit down. So a lot of what I've done, I have a male that reads with us, like an older male, just showing it, or finding those people, because they're black male lawyers, and of course they're readers. So finding someone who you can brag on and say, this...
this young man is reading. So give them a reference point because sometimes you have to see that representation. I mean, you can be a mother, an aunt, a sister, a cousin that is a female, but you have to show them because boys like to see. So meet them where they are and make sure you provide that information for them and why it's so important. I mean, look at Barack Obama. He gives out this whole list of, this is what books I love to read that I've enjoyed.And I forgot the young guy's name. He's an athlete, he's a football player. And he recently was found reading on the sidelines during an actual football game.

Nurturing Amir:Thats amazing!I didn't see that or hear about that. I'm gonna have to look that up.

MJ:Yes, yes, yes, I'm gonna have to send it to you, I mean  it's things like that, that reminds young boys why it's so important.

Nurturing Amir:  That's good for young boys to see something like that. Like, okay, he's an athlete on the field, but he's on the sidelines reading the book like that. I can't think of the word I want to use for that, but that is, that's good. I'm gonna have look that up. I've never seen that. 

MJ:Yeah, it's a good example. And if I'm not mistaken, his PR rep also has like a book club. And so I found him and I was like, here's a perfect example to show why reading is so important.

Nurturing Amir: That's amazing. I will  have to look that up.So do you have, I guess for the future, are you already working on like your fourth book?

MJ:Yes.

Nurturing Amir: Between each one, have you done like a book a year? I know some people wait two to three years. So how long has it taken you to publish these three books? Has it been like in a two-year span, a three-year span?

MJ:I normally wait every two years. So the first book was in 2020, then 2022. I released the third one in 2024, but to the public, early 2025. So I try to do every two years because illustrations are very expensive. I'm just, being honest. And then I want to give each book the attention that it deserves by, you know, just advertising that book for a while. And then I'm like what lesson do I want to put in this book? A lot of people say bullying but I try to keep the lessons not as common but, kind of like things that I sneak in. So I'm not opposed to writing about bullying but I want to find something a bit different. And then in my last book I introduced two new characters and so now people are saying take it into a sixth book series and I don't know.

Nurturing Amir: The good thing about writing children's books, it's like a world of never-ending possibilities so you can always write them. There's just so much with themes and topics especially for us in the black community that we can really touch on and even for Black Boy Joy. With just being a mom and now stepping into the author role and seeing that there's a lack of those type of books for young black boys. The stereotype behind it.

My last question is what does Black Boy Joy mean to you?

MJ:Black boy joy means literally listening to our black boys and meeting them where they are and understanding that black boys have a lot of weight on their shoulders, especially in the times we're living right now. So making sure we nurture them to say, yes, I want you to be strong, but I want you to also understand that your emotions are important, your feelings are important. And what do you need from me in order to encourage you to lead us into the next generation? So just taking that focus and understanding that while we're pushing them to be strong and don't cry and all of these other things. They have a lot of feelings, they have a lot of emotions and they have a lot of weight on their shoulders. So making sure we enforce them to know that you are great and you can be any and everything you want to be.

Nurturing Amir:I love it. That's a great answer to what that means. I really love that. And before we end, can you let the listeners or the viewers know where they can find your books, where they can learn more about you, like your social medias?

MJ:Yes. So everything for me is words in web words, w o r d s i n w e b b. So web is actually my last name. So while I write under Murlonda Janelle, my last name is actually web. So wordsinweb.com on my website, wordsinweb on Facebook, on Tik Tok, even though I don't know what I'm doing and wordsinwebb on Instagram. 

Nurturing Amir:All right, well, thank you so much for joining me today for My Mindful Monday's series: Black Boy Joy Spotlight. I really enjoyed speaking with you.and yes be sure to follow her on social media and learn more about her books on her website. Thank you.

MJ:Thank you for having me.

Be sure to keep up with Murlonda on all social media:@_wordsinwebb and check out her book series on her website https://www.wordsinwebb.com