Shontel Booker: Grandma’s Gifts

Can you give some background on your piece?

 Anytime that I write, I write by hand. I just recently found a notebook that I wrote the story in, so I got to see it from the start.  It [Grandma’s Gifts] actually started when I was working for an organization called “The New Bam;” which is now called 30,000 Feet. It was a literacy program that taught kids how to read the alphabet and different African American stories. When I was working with them, I noticed that a lot of kids of school age were struggling with the letters of the alphabet. 

This was back in 2017, 2018, and so I was also developing my nonprofit at that time. I came up with an event called “Grandma and Grandpa’s Gifts,” which would eventually have the kids reading stories to elders that were at a nursing home or a highrise, just so they [elders] could get that interaction with kids, and so the kids could get that piece of reading. And then, when I thought about it, I thought this would be a good story. I wanted to find a way to honor my great-grandmother, so that’s when I started writing the story. 

What message are you trying to share with your readers?

Reading is everything. You need to learn how to read, in order to know how to cook, to sign a document. Any and everything you do in life you need to learn how to read. As well as honoring our elders. These are the people that hold the stories of our lives, from when we were little and on. They were able to tell us, even when they weren’t able to read, how we transitioned from then to now. 

Why is it so important for children to learn from their elders?

They need to know who they are, and what their family history is. If you don’t, then it’s lost. Once those elders pass away, if you don’t get those stories from them, there goes the history. So you know who you are, where you should go, or where you could be going. 

You mentioned your nonprofit organization, Let’s Be Ladies Foundation. Could you tell us more about that?

Let’s Be Ladies Foundation is based on personal development and entrepreneurship based for girls from age 12-25. I wanted to bring ethics and etiquette for girls, as well as developing their interpersonal skills, and allowing them to take their hobbies and turn them into businesses. The way it ties into the story, for me personally, I love to write. This was a really big deal for me, even doing this interview. The story started as an event, and that is still one of the things I’d like the girls to do. 

Can you share a little about your writing process? 

I need to get a better process. I have so many different notebooks. If I get an idea that comes in my head, I’ll write it down. Maybe in that moment I’ll keep flowing and let it go that way. 

I’m really big on words that have meaning. I’ll look up the dictionary definition of the word and decide if that’s something that I want to put in it, to make sure it means what I want it to mean. 

Do you have any advice for children who want to be writers? 

I would say, your story matters. Any wild thing you can think of about writing, just do it. Just get your story out there, even though you might think it’s crazy. Someone can relate to it. 

Is there a lesson from your grandmother that you always remember?

Treat people the way you want to be treated. Be nice to everyone you meet because you never know when you’re entertaining an angel. 

Do you have any book projects we should look out for?

Yes, it’s called, The Day I Met Jesus. It’s kind of a play on words--it’s kind of spiritual. The journey of falling in love, it’s not necessarily about falling in love with a person, but falling in love with myself. 

Shontel kayaking with college bestie on a lake in Robbinsdale, MN.