Yesterday Queen Latifah helped kick off BookExpo America by giving the keynote address to the African American Program for Book Selling Professionals. Queen Latifah has just written a children’s book, Queen of the Scene, published by Laura Geringer Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

The book is a wonderful story about a little girl who rules the playground — basketball, stickball, jump rope, soccer — there’s nothing she won’t try. This little one exudes girl-power and can do anything. . . just as long as she’s home before dark!

Queen Latifah also had important things to say about the power of books, the impact books have had on her life, and her support of First Book. This is just one of the many reasons I feel lucky to work at First Book. Queen Latifah has a voice that touches millions. . . and yesterday she used that voice to support First Book. We couldn’t be prouder to welcome her into the First Book family.

After her remarks Queen Latifah also cast one of the first ballots in First Book’s Literacy and Justice for All campaign — which offers anyone in the country an opportunity to vote for the state of their choice to win a distribution of 50,000 additional books from First Book. Ballots are, of course, kept confidential. . . but Queen Latifah did mention a fondness for her home state of New Jersey and something tells me she might have remembered that when voting. . .

Have you cast your vote yet? If you are at BookExpo, look for ballot boxes throughout the convention center. Otherwise you can vote online from the front page of this blog.