About Us
At Joy for Books we are passionate about BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) books for all children. We believe in Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s theory of mirrors and windows — supplying children with stories in which they can see themselves (mirrors) and stories in which they can see those that are different from them (windows).
Joy for Books works to support BIPOC books at several points along the path of getting impactful and authentic books into the hands of children — ultimately to spark joy in young readers.
Getting Books to Children In a perfect world, all children would be exposed to books at home; however, that is not always the reality. Most children are likely to encounter books in schools and other educational programs. We believe that if we can provide well-crafted BIPOC books in these settings, we can give more children a positive first impression of reading.
Curating Our Annual BIPOC Book List We want to support and encourage the development of authentic, well-crafted BIPOC books; thus, we have established criteria by which we select books for donation. Our annual book list will include books from indie/small publishers and/or self-published authors, as well as the big five publishers. We promote our list for the year to support authors and publishers. We will purchase these selected books at a fair price, knowing that profit margins can be slim for small publishers and self-published authors.
Supporting the Consumption of BIPOC Books BIPOC books can be effective in sparking conversations on some challenging topics. A well-written story and beautiful illustrations invite readers in and, before they know it, they are learning something about themselves or someone else.
Meet the Board
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Joy E. Triche
FOUNDER & BOARD PRESIDENT
Joy has spent her career in educational publishing, honing her operations skills during a nearly decade-long stint at National Geographic School Publishing. After spending years helping others self-publish their books, she started her own publishing company Tiger Stripe Publishing (TSP) with a mission to publish children’s books that feature BIPOC characters. TSP published nearly a dozen children's books. The company became a platform to advocate for the creation of more BIPOC content through relationships with organizations such as the American Library Association.
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Arthur N. Turnbull
BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
Arthur Turnbull began a career in technology as Technical Wizard for Jackbox Games, maker of the video game series "You Don’t Know Jack". He continued on as Technology Manager for Discover Music Discover Life, a leader in fine arts curriculum development and supplemental education provider for Chicago Public Schools. In 2018, he started Arturo Solo LLC, a managed cloud services consultancy. Arthur is also a co-founder of Wildflower LLC, home to The Music Snobs and Snobs On Film podcasts.
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Janet Beason Ed.D.
BOARD TREASURER
Janet is an educator with degrees from The Ohio State and Arizona State Universities. During her many years as an educator, she taught first grade, and grades four through eight. She has taught in schools all over — Caribou, Maine; Omaha, Nebraska; Evanston, Illinois; Marysville, California; and Izmir, Turkey. Janet worked in the Avondale School District in Arizona for 30 years as a teacher, computer coordinator, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. Currently, in her retirement, she works as adjunct faculty and supervises student teachers for Rio Salado College. Janet is the member of several boards in addition to Joy for Books.
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Jean Zartner
BOARD SECRETARY
Jean has a master's degree as a K-12 Reading Specialist. She taught 7th grade developmental and remedial reading classes for 11 years. Then she became an instructional designer, creating corporate training programs. For the past 15 years, she has helped college faculty create courses. She lives in Denver, Colorado, and enjoys hiking and driving in the mountains. She spends a lot of time enjoying books and movies. She teaches ballroom, swing, and country-western dancing and goes dancing several times a week.
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Raquel Monroe, Ph.D.
BOARD MEMBER
Raquel is an interdisciplinary performance scholar/artist/administrator and mother whose scholarship appears in journals and anthologies on race, sexuality, dance, and popular culture. She is currently the Associate Dean of Graduate Education and Academic Affairs and a Professor in Theatre in Dance at UT Austin. She formally served as a professor in Dance and Co-Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Columbia College Chicago where she developed policies and procedures for hiring diverse faculty, created and facilitated pedagogy workshops, offered programming grants, and antiracism training for faculty and staff throughout the institution. As an artist, Raquel is a member of the Propelled Animals collective.
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Ela Aktay
BOARD MEMBER
Ela began her career in educational publishing over 30 years ago. She is an education consultant, learning designer, and curriculum developer and has led the development of large, multi-component print and digital learning programs. Over her career, she has worked with National Geographic Learning, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Scholastic to create engaging learning experiences accessible for all students. Ela is also a writer and a certified meditation facilitator. Her favorite children’s books are The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats and Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White.
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LaArnie Lucas
BOARD MEMBER
LaArnie has an extensive background in creating strategic partnerships which focus on building and restructuring organizations in both the private and non-profit sectors. She brings a unique perspective of over 30 years combined education and experience in business administration, human resources, and information technology. She has demonstrated her genuine passion to serve children and young adults in the underserved communities of Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tempe, and Tucson, Arizona.