Mission

Manzanita Books will engage young people with West Coast and California history, highlighting under-represented stories through colorfully-illustrated texts. Centering #ownvoices, Manzanita’s books will honestly face our complicated history. Different groups of people have been, and continue to be, a part of this land — like the native manzanita plant — the seeds, shoots, roots, and flowers. Manzanita Books will explore this history, centering indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian American, LGBQT+, and disabled people’s stories, but also looking frankly at the place of Whiteness in the state’s establishment.  

​When we walk on ground knowing what happened in the past, we have a personal connection to that place, those people, and their stories. They become OUR stories. It is time to look more honestly and openly at this history, so that we can organize collectively to build towards a better future.
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proposed titles

Books will be written by people whose lived experience connects to the story. If authors aren’t children’s writers, books can be co-written by Laura Atkins as took place with the Fighting for Justice series. The goal is to publish first books in August 2020.
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William Byron Rumford
  • Selina Solomons (1862-1942) – (Elaine Elinson and Laura Atkins, co-authors) Jewish woman who engaged with working-class women in San Francisco in the fight for suffrage across the state. Goal to publish in August 2020 for the centenary of the 19th Amendment’s passage. 

  • Whiteness in California (1849-1860s – (Laura Atkins) Using individual stories to explore the construction of Whiteness in establishing California, including testimony exclusion laws, educational segregation, lack of suffrage, and the legal enslavement of Black people and Native Californians.

  • Toypurina (1760-1799) – A medicine woman from the Tongva Nation in what we currently call Southern California, and leader in a 1785 planned uprising against the Mission San Gabriel.

  • José Sarria (1922-2013) – First out gay person to run for office in the U.S. in 1961, he resisted police targeting of drag queens and founded a philanthropic pageant to support LGBQT+ causes.

  • Section 504 Sit-ins (April 5-30, 1977) – Longest occupation of federal building in US history, young disabled activists stayed 26 days, leading to federal protections and  a national civil rights movement.

  • William Byron Rumford (1908-1986) – First Black person elected to state public office in Northern California, leader in passage of fair housing law which became model for federal Fair Housing Act.

  • Philip Vera Cruz (1904-1994) – (Carl Angel) Filipino-American leader in the farmworkers movement alongside Mexican-Americans, improved working conditions for migrant workers.

  • East L.A. Walkouts (1968) – Movement of thousands of L.A. high school students who walked out to protest unequal education in first mass mobilization of Mexican Americans in the region.
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  • Reid’s Records (1945-2019) – (Diara Reid and Laura Atkins, co-authors) Black music business founded by Mel and Betty Reid in South Berkeley, community hub and impact of gentrification. 
Manzanita Books is an emerging publisher, and we are always happy to connect to others.
​Feel free to reach out if you have ideas for books or want to learn more about our program. 
Above and all manzanita header photos by Elaine Miller Bond
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