Books for Young Readers
An apology to readers:
When my books were published two decades ago, I did not know that some of the character descriptions I used, such as "almond eyes" and "chocolate-colored fingers" are hurtful and harmful to minorities and people of color. I deeply regret those word choices and apologize to all who are harmed by those descriptions. If you choose to read or listen to my books today, I hope you'll attribute those descriptions to my immaturity as a writer 20 years ago, and I hope my mistakes won't take away from the true heart of these stories - a story of people from different backgrounds who grow to love each other and become a family.
I wish I had known 20 years ago what I know today about negative tropes and harmful stereotypes. If you want to learn more about this topic, this blog post is a good place to start: "Being Respectful When Writing About Others, Part 1" by Amy Winters-Voss.