Goudelock & 3 Bears Publishing Prioritizes Showcasing Diversity in Children's Literature

By Olivia Miller

When thinking back to our childhoods, I am sure some of our fondest memories are reading with our parents. Now adults, we probably do not remember the specific titles of the books we read every night, but we still remember the lessons we learned like how to share with friends, have empathy for others and persevere through difficult times. Flight attendant turned author Karolyn Denson Landrieux was inspired by the great effect literature can have on children to establish her publishing company Goudelock & 3 Bears Publishing. 

Though the company did not start publishing books until a few years ago, Landrieux discovered her love for writing in her youth. She says she has “always been a writer” and went on to have some of her poems published in the late 1990s. She adds that writing “has always been something I have done, but I never thought about doing it professionally.” 

It wasn’t until her granddaughter was born in 2017 that she started to change her mind when she began to write short stories about an adventurous little girl who goes on exciting journeys with her feline companion. Her daughter urged her to publish them but she “put it on the backburner” after she couldn’t find an illustrator. 

However, she began thinking about publishing her stories again while her flight attendant career was put on hold by the pandemic. During this time, she says writing was “something that has been cathartic during everything that happened with covid and lockdown.” She connected with illustrator Karen Light, who she calls “such a wonderful person to work with”, and self-published her first book The Adventures of Maxine and Beanie: Maxine Makes a New Friend was published. 

She says her first publication “was a huge hit” and went on to publish another The Adventures of Maxine and Beanie book a few months later. 

However, not everything was smooth sailing. When Landrieux approached local libraries and schools to get her books in their libraries, she learned that self-published books could not be featured in those public institutions. She says, “As a female African American publishing children’s literature with a diverse voice, it is impossible to be published by a publishing house unless you’re well known.” So she thought, “Why not start your own publishing company?” and Goudelock & 3 Bears Publishing was born. 

The name, which was created by Landrieux’s daughter and business partner, is a spin on the traditional children’s story Goldilock and The Three Bears and features her grandparents’ name, Goudelock. 

The mission of the company is simple yet impactful and centers around diversity and representation. Only 19% of literature worldwide is written for children. Upon learning this statistic, Landrieux wonders “imagine the numbers when you look at female protagonists and diversity.” Thus, she has devoted her company “[to bringing] underrepresented stories of families to life.” 

She believes that “reading is the cornerstone of education” and that “[being] able to see yourself, your family, your situation in literature may ignite something in [you] to want to read.” She says that, for people of color, seeing themselves in the media “is joyful, is exciting” and “there is nothing that can explain that feeling.”

Landrieux’s mission of promoting literacy is baked into the mission of her business. Each author that publishes a book with Goudelock & 3 Bears is required to donate 10 books a year, with the company itself donating another 10 books. 

The company also places importance on reading to local students in kindergarten through second grade. Landrieux says it is “absolutely touching to see” the “[children’s] faces light up” when she reads to them. Recently, she has done readings at Woodland Hills Elementary School and Penn Hills Elementary School and fondly talks about the kind, handwritten thank-you notes she receives from the students after a reading saying “They love to see the author of any book right there in person.” 

Her ultimate goal with Goudelock & 3 Bears is to strategically grow. She “wants to keep it intimate” and prioritizes publishing impactful books of quality at about “2-5 publications per year.” 

Not only does she want to grow her team, but she also wants to grow her author base. She says she “[does] want to get more diverse voices” and emphasizes the importance of literary messages coming from a “personal place.” She says that “African American books are not written by African American authors- that is missing” and hopes to remedy the problem by welcoming 10-15 authors in the future. 

Overall she says her “Goal is to get voices heard, get messages seen, allow children to see themselves reflected.”