{"id":5160,"date":"2023-06-16T10:19:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T17:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/?p=5160"},"modified":"2026-08-30T21:00:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T04:00:43","slug":"happily-ever-anboran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/happily-ever-anboran\/","title":{"rendered":"Happily Ever Anboran"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chic<\/span><\/div><\/div>
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Happily Ever Anboran<\/h1>\n

RONNIE ANDERSON, JR. AUTHORS INCLUSIVE FAIRY TALE BOOK SERIES<\/p>\n

By Stacey Gualandi<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Once upon a time\u2014during Nevada Reading Week\u2014<\/em>I had the honor of reading to Miss Jones\u2019 kindergarteners and Miss Stevens\u2019 second graders at \u201cHome of the Huskies\u201d Liliam Lujan Hickey Elementary in Las Vegas. As a kid, I loved when my mom read fairy tales to me at bedtime, so I jumped at this rare opportunity to read to the under-seven set. (I\u2019m a DINK!).<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Stacey<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Stacey Gualandi with <\/em>5 Amazing Fairytales by Ronnie Anderson, Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

I chose to read \u201cThe Hairless Bear,\u201d a magical tale about a bear who wakes in the middle of the winter to discover he has no fur. If you\u2019re a fan of fairy tales, this may not sound familiar, but it\u2019s just one of a brand new series of books aimed at inclusive storytelling by African American author Ronnie Anderson, Jr.<\/p>\n

With titles like \u201cEverla and The Stone Prince,\u201d \u201cThe Candlemaker & the Moon,\u201d and \u201cChanging Beautiful,\u201d Anderson Jr. has imagined amazing adventures for kids of color and beyond.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Anderson, Jr. is not a fairy tale writer by trade. In fact, he\u2019s a certified clinical laboratory scientist who manages three Baton Rouge General science labs. But in 2017, he wrote his first story; within a year, he opened Rogue Star Publishing and released the anthology Five Amazing Fairytales,<\/em> all set in the wonderful world of Anboran.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnboran is a healing project,\u201d says Anderson Jr.<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old married father of three daughters put pen to paper primarily out of necessity: there were no fairy tales featuring characters of color to read to his young girls.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Ronnie<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Ronnie Anderson, Jr. with his family.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

\u201cMy 6-year-old daughter asked, \u2018Hey, Dad, why aren\u2019t there any Black princesses?\u2019\u201d said Anderson, Jr. \u201cOther kids get their joy from more than one princess who looked like them, but at the time, being a little ignorant about princesses, I started researching and to my astonishment, she was correct. I wanted to give my daughters Black princesses. I wanted them to be able to enjoy other characters who look like them.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Anderson Jr. set out to make original, culturally relevant, and inclusive stories with Black heroes like Princess Beautiful and Prince Sakima. As a scientist, creating something from scratch \u201ccame naturally,\u201d says Anderson Jr., and his many years studying Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Jewish culture helped make the magical world of Anboran a dream come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that world, they go through the same things that we experience in our world, but there\u2019s no racism,\u201d continues Anderson, Jr. \u201cYou learn they have the same ups and downs that we face here, but in their world, the moon can become a human, you can talk to animals, and there\u2019s magic and wonder.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Ronnie<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Ronnie Anderson, Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

Anderson, Jr. says he soon collaborated with a former Disney editor to turn his tales into illustrated story books because he wanted everyone to see and identify with his characters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI created Anboran for two reasons: One, I wanted people of color to be able to see themselves represented in the world of fairy tales; to know that they are normal and be able to say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m okay, and I look beautiful too,\u2019\u201d says Anderson, Jr. \u201cThe second purpose was to give children and people outside of our community a chance to look through the windows of our stories and see that this company is producing a different narrative about people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnboran\u201d is a combination of his last name, Anderson, and his wife\u2019s last name, Bowman. He says this fantastical place also honors all the people who impacted his childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI struggled growing up. We were very poor and didn\u2019t even know we were poor. We were like, really poor,\u201d admits Anderson, Jr. \u201cSo I wanted the name to be magical, and I wanted something that when I promoted it, it would catch people\u2019s attention.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Anderson, Jr. just released his seventh book, and his first two book signings were packed with prepubescents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people just kept pouring in and lined up around the room!\u201d says Anderson, Jr. \u201cThey bought all of the books, and they were just in awe of what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Anderson, Jr. wants to turn Anboran into a global brand. He launched a line of branded apparel products available online at major retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Amazon; he continues to make in-person appearances and plans to branch out into animation.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Anboran<\/span><\/div><\/div>

\u201cI want to make it be a family entertainment company where families can trust our content,\u201d boasts Anderson, Jr. \u201cI want Anboran to be a leader in creating a better world. I know what it\u2019s like. I\u2019ve been on the opposite side of the fence, and now I\u2019m doing well financially\u2026but I know where I came from. I want Anboran to be a bridge between communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The books have already caught the attention of one famous father of 12, TV\/radio host\/rapper\/comedian Nick Cannon, who welcomed Anderson Jr. recently to his \u201cThe Daily Cannon\u201d live talk show on Amp!<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just growing, and I know what this company is doing; it\u2019s just what our world needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

If this scientist-turned-fairytale-writer gets his way, Anboran will have everyone living happily ever after.<\/p>\n

To learn more, just click on anboran.com<\/a> & barnesandnoble.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Ronnie<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Ronnie Anderson, Jr. with his three daughters<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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\u201cThe Hairless Bear,\u201d is a magical tale about a bear who wakes in the middle of the winter to discover he has no fur. If you\u2019re a fan of fairy tales, this may not sound familiar, but it\u2019s just one of a brand new series of books aimed at inclusive storytelling by African American author Ronnie Anderson, Jr. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4522,2360],"tags":[3990,2826,816,3989],"class_list":["post-5160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-blog","tag-anboran","tag-author","tag-authors","tag-ronnie-anderson-jr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5160"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5181,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160\/revisions\/5181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}