Seeds of a Dream.
The Magic Inside Me.
How do you illustrate a real woman's life, her roots, her grief, her doctorate, in a way a child can hold, feel, and carry forward?
How do you illustrate a real woman's life, her roots, her grief, her doctorate, in a way a child can hold, feel, and carry forward?
Dr. Shanice Robinson is a professor, educator, and community changemaker who grew up on the streets of Richmond, California. She came to me with a vision: a children's book that told her real story directly to the young Black children who need to hear it most.
The book needed to do two things at once: be warm and accessible enough for a child to engage with. That tension was the design challenge from the very first page.
From the streets of Richmond to the halls of academia, Seeds of a Dream plants a message of hope, legacy, and power for every young Black child ready to bloom.
Book back cover
The book follows Dr. Shanice Robinson from childhood to her doctorate. It doesn't soften the hard parts. Friends lost to violence. The fragility of dreams in under-resourced communities. The loneliness of being the only one who looks like you in a room.
But it also holds the joy. Saturday hair braiding. The library. A mother who told her daughter education was a superpower. The book gives children a mirror, and gives them the proof that the path forward is real.
Each spread pairs a full illustration with Dr. Robinson's words. The layout gives the illustration room to breathe.
Dr. Robinson handed me her life. Every scene I drew was a version of her memory. That responsibility shaped every decision I made from character design onward.
The book sits between grief and joy, between a child's bedtime story and a community's survival. Finding a visual register was essential.
Dr. Shanice had to be recognisable as a six-year-old and as a professor. The character was a structural decision that held the whole book together.
The constraints of a children's book made me a more precise illustrator. Every image had to communicate completely.