“Be a Man Tyrone: What Happens When Daddy Goes to Prison”
“Be a Man Tyrone: What Happens When Daddy Goes to Prison” is my new children’s book about parental incarceration and its effects on children.
Well over half of all people incarcerated in the United States (1.2 million of about 2.3 million people) are parents of children under the age of 18. Over 1 million incarcerated parents are FATHERS. (Pew Charitable Trusts)
Daddy messed up.
Daddy goes away and tells his young son Tyrone to be a man while he’s gone.
Daddy is punished for the crime he has committed. And so is Tyrone.
We tend to forget that daddy isn’t the only one that does time for the crime.
We often put pressure on our young boys to “be men” while their fathers do time. But we rarely think about the detrimental effects of forcing boys to “be men” too soon. This book explores these effects in the form of a children’s book. The story surrounds Tyrone, a boy whose father is in prison. Read the book to find out how Tyrone is effected by his father’s incarceration and why being a man too soon is so detrimental for our children. Share this story with your children to shed awareness on parental incarceration, whether they are children of incarcerated parents or not. It’s important for ALL children to remain children as long as they can.
Purchase “Be a Man Tyrone: What Happens When Daddy Goes to Prison” today!
Dr. Kiara Shanay Lee 
This book is a wonderful reminder of the lives we touch as adults and the responsibilities we have to our children. I use it in my men’s group.
Hi! I’m from a radio station and we are very interested in hearing more about your book. Please contact us for more info.
Kiara, I haven’t your children’s book as yet, but I did read your article in Teaching Tolerance. I can identify with your experience. I sincerely believe that it can go both ways, you being ignored and somehow being perceived as not belonging, despite your grade point average. In my case, being someone who was seen as too light to be black and too black to be white, I often felt I was being patronized. Now, I could be wrong, but I felt that they were including me in activities because I was the only one who looked like me. You know James Baldwin once said: “Know from whence you came.” Knowing from whence you came gives one a great idea of where one’s going. I understand, the code-switching. You are looked upon as being upity. I can recall the time when I was on an American Airlines jet headed to Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles to visit my mother when I struck up a conversation with these two older white ladies. I don’t remember how, but the subject of education came up and I mentioned that I had gone to graduate school and that I had a Masters in Communication. The conversation died then and there. After a long pregnant pause, one of the ladies turned to me and asked: “What made you want to go to Graduate School?” I replied: “Education was stressed in my family, we have doctors, lawyers, judges, educators and so on, and not going was not an option. If it sounds like overkill, it was, and it was intentional.” We flew the rest of the way in silence. Was I offended, that such as question was asked of me? Sure I was