The Kitchen Diva

The Kitchen Diva! Show Concept

     Book Boosters, Inc. has as part of its mission to educate a diverse population on healthy living. Through a 30-minute weekly television program featuring Angela Shelf Medearis, The Kitchen Diva! , Book Boosters, Inc. will introduce the concept of organic, all-natural eating habits to viewers nationwide.

     The Kitchen Diva! television show was created to teach viewers how to prepare healthy alternatives with a “Diva-style” twist to traditional ethnic recipes, comfort foods, and familiar recipes; to support farmer's markets; to promote the use of organic, locally grown produce and seasonal cooking; to teach viewers how to prepare tasty vegetarian meals using non-meat alternatives; and to encourage them to consider vegetarian recipes for one or two meals per week.

     The show will encourage viewers to get back into the kitchen, around the table, and to eat seasonally. Angela Shelf Medearis is indeed a fresh face and a new and diverse voice in the culinary and health field. Her warm, engaging, and zany personality will attract a new audience to organic, whole foods, vegetarian and ethnic recipes.

About Book Boosters, Inc.

Mrs. Medearis is the founder of Book Boosters, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization that works in conjunction with 4-H C.A.P.I.T.A.L. serving 30 Austin elementary schools. Book Boosters, Inc. is also the sponsoring organization for The Kitchen Diva! television and radio shows, as well as several educational children's television shows.

Angela Shelf Medearis

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Shelf Medearis’ career as an author began the day she was fired from her job as a legal secretary. She decided to pursue her dream of writing so that she could be a stay-at-home mother. After four long years, hundreds of painful rejection letters, and numerous unpublished manuscripts, Angela decided to stop sending her work to New York publishers and submitted her manuscript PICKING PEAS FOR A PENNY to a small, regional publisher in her hometown, Austin, Texas.

Her husband, Michael, worked full-time and part-time to support her dreams and assisted her on her road trips to school districts around Texas to promote her book a time her refers to as Driving Ms. Angela. They sold more than 10,000 copies of PICKING PEAS FOR A PENNY at schools, autograph-signings, and book conferences. The appearances helped Angela hone her skills as a storyteller and she has been named one of the “Best Storyteller’s in the World” by Storytelling World Magazine.

Texas Monthly Magazine calls Angela Shelf Medearis “one of the most influential writers of children’s literature in Texas,” and rightly so. Mrs. Medearis is now the award-winning author of more than 90 books for children, including Seven Spools of Thread, Picking Peas for a Penny, Dancing With The Indians, Poppa’s New Pants, The Singing Man, Annie’s Gifts, Too Much Talk, The Ghost of Sifty-Sifty Sam, The Freedom Riddle, Skin Deep, Treemonisha, Tailypo, the Zebra Riding Cowboy, and Rum A Tum Tum. The What Did I Do To Deserve A Sister Like You? series is based upon her childhood. Her book, Chester’s CASA, was published by Scholastic, Inc. for distribution to children in the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program for children in foster care. She wrote the award-winning story, Daisy And The Doll, and several other books about African-American arts and Texas history with Michael Medearis.

Her books have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, and are featured on a line of animated DVDs. The Storyteller Series: Many Books, Many Languages Bilingual DVDs are produced and narrated by Mrs. Medearis, as well ANGELA’S NOTEBOOK, an educational television show about writing, reading, authors and illustrators. Her works are found in schools, libraries and bookstores around the United States, and have been translated into Spanish, French, Dutch, and Japanese. She has worked as a reading consultant for the Scholastic, Inc. and McGraw-Hill Literacy Programs. She also assisted the companies with the development of their reading series for elementary school children. She has written several articles for Scholastic’s READ AND RISE and GO! HEALTHY KIDS magazines. Mrs. Medearis is also the author of four cookbooks The African-American Kitchen, The Kwanzaa Celebration, Ideas For Entertaining From The African-American Kitchen, and The Ethnic Vegetarian.

PUBLISHED WORKS

SCHOLASTIC, INC., New York:

Chester’s Casa (Fundraiser For Court Appointed Special Advocates And Book Boosters, Inc.)
What Did I Do To Deserve A Sister Like You? (Class Act 1/4 Book Series)
With Friends Like These…(Class Act 2/4 Book Series)
Too Many Holidays? (Class Act 3 /4 Book Series)
Best Friends Forever? (Class Act 4/4 Book Series)
Singing For Dr. King
Lights Out!
The Biggest Snowball Fight
The Seven Days Of Kwanzaa
Dancing With The Indians/Blue Ribbon Paperback Book Club
We Play On A Rainy Day/Hello Reader-Preschool-Grade 1
The 100th Day Of School/Hello Math
Here Comes The Snow
Big Mama And Grandma Ghana
Harry's House
The Spray Paint Mystery
The Case Of The Missing Trophy: Spray Paint Mystery Sequel
We Eat Dinner In The Bathtub
The Ghost Of Sifty-Sifty Sam,
Seeds Grow
Best Friends In The Snow
Can You Keep A Secret? (Anthology)
The Box Car Children Series/Ghost Written:
The Box Car Children/Mystery At The Alamo
The Box Car Children/Mystery At The Fair

HOLIDAY HOUSE:

Dancing With The Indians (New York Times Review, Reading Rainbow Review)
The Singing Man, (Coretta Scott King Honor Book/Illustrations)
Rum Tum Tum, 1997
Poppa's Itchy Christmas, 1997

DIVA PRODUCTIONS, INC.:

Eat, Babies Eat!
Bye, Bye Babies!
Picking Peas For A Penny
Tailypo
Poppa’s New Pants
The Adventures Of Sugar And Junior
Chester’s Casa
Come This Far To Freedom
The Princess Of The Press
Little Louis And The Jazz Band
Haunts
Skin Deep And Other Teen-Aged Reflections

BOOKS WITH MICHAEL RENE MEDEARIS:

African-American Arts—Music
African-American Arts—Cooking
African-American Arts—Dance

ADULT TITLES--COOKBOOKS:
The African-American Kitchen Cookbook
The Kwanzaa Celebration Cookbook
Ideas for Entertaining From The African-American Kitchen

RODALE PRESS/PREVENTION MAGAZINE:

The Ethnic Vegetarian Cookbook

LODESTAR/DUTTON/PENGUIN U.S.A.:
Dare To Dream: The Story Of Coretta Scott King

CANDLEWICK PRESS:

Too Much Talk

ALBERT WHITMAN AND COMPANY, Morton Grove, IL.:

Seven Spools of Thread (winner of the Platinum Book Award-Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, featured on THE TODAY SHOW, ALA Notable Social Studies Trade Book-2001/Children's Book Council and National Council for the Social Studies, Show Me Readers Award Master list, Louisiana Young Reader’s Choice Award, Not Just for Children Anymore! 2001

JUSTUS BOOKS:

Annie's Gifts (Recommended by PARENT'S CHOICE FOUNDATION)

GINGHAM DOG PRESS/MCGRAW-HILL CHILDREN’S PUBLISHING:

Our People
The Freedom Riddle
Snug In Momma’s Arms

WITH MICHAEL RENE MEDEARIS:

VERMONT FOLKLORE SOCIETY, Middlebury, VT.:

Daisy And The Doll- Winner Of The Dr. Martin Luther King, Living The Dream Award-2002, Aesop Award Honorable Mention—American Folklore Society

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING

RIGBY, USA/HEINEMANN, ENGLAND:

Cowboys On A Ranch
Just Like Me
Diego Saves The Planet
Daddy Saves The Day
Shoe
How Monkey Got His Tale
The Wind Blows, Poem
The Piano Recital

MACMILLAN/MCGRAW HILL:

Roundup At Rio Ranch
What Does Pig Do?
Pecos Bill (Play)
Decisions, Decisions (Poem)

SCHOLASTIC BOOK GROUP:

Many Voices
Literacy Place/The Treasure Hunt
Hooray For The 100th Day
Big Mama And Grandma Ghana
Wiggle Works/Harry's House
Peanut Butter And Jam
Read And Rise Magazine: From Momma To Me

HARPERCOLLINS/SCOTT FORESMAN/CELEBRATIONS PRESS:

Samuel's Sprout
Sharing Danny's Dad
At The Library
Sneakers
Hair
Kyle's Kwanzaa
The Friendship Garden
Barney And Bennie
Lucy's Quiet Book
On The Way To The Pond

SILVER BURDETT GIN:

Texas Usa/Social Studies Textbook

TIME WARNER BOOKS/HARCOURT: TIME OUT FOR KIDS

The Texas State Museum
Juneteenth
Native Americans
On The Tex-Mex Border

SPECIALTY BOOKS

The Birders: An educational comic book for
The Texas Audubon Society