Adventure book by alumnae duo aims to champion black representation for children

demelans book

Alumnae Aminat Bashorun and Caris Greyson have recently launched their children’s book, Adventure of the DeMelans: Carnival Catastrophe.

The pair have written this book to improve black representation for children and to raise more awareness of sickle cell disease.

Published under their new company ABCG Productions, Aminat and Caris would like to publish more books for children in the future, following the journey of the DeMelans family and their adventures.

Caris said:

Sickle cell is a disease that especially affects Afro-Caribbean people, and this is not often spoken about. At the back of the book we created an information page for children to learn about the disease as it is important to educate black children about things that affect the black community. One of our characters in the book also has the disease.

Superhero characters

The alumnae have created superhero characters and aimed to produce a book that discusses a serious subject in a fun, exciting way, whilst championing black representation.

Some of the proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the Sickle Cell Society.

Aminat is also the Founder of Beard Kings, a business launched in 2020 specialising in male grooming products. The alumnae work in government related roles. Aminat (Sociology and Criminology 2019) is a Work Coach for the Department for Work and Pensions, whilst Caris (Social Psychology 2019) is a Social Researcher at the Ministry of Justice.

Their book is available on Kindle and in paperback, and you can also follow ABCG Productions on Instagram.

This feature forms part of the University's Black History Month celebrations.