Source: Rick Kern / Getty
Ashanti is being accused of ripping off another author’s concept and using it for her first-ever children’s book.
On July 19, the former Murder Inc. singer will be releasing My Name Is A Story, a book about the first day of school for a little girl named Ashanti who has to deal with people misreading and mispronouncing her name.
“Inspired by my own experiences, I wrote this book to remind children that every name is special and deserves to be honored and celebrated. Every name tells a story,” she captioned a post showing the cover of the book. “What’s in a name? Everything! Saying each other’s names correctly is one way to value and see people fully. My hope is that MY NAME IS A STORY will be an inspiration to anyone who has been made fun of because their name was different, or had their name mispronounced or not pronounced at all.”
Author Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow has come forward and pointed out that her book, Your Name Is A Song, and Ashanti’s book are far too similar.
“My heart hurts…is Ashanti ripping off my book? Ashanti’s is on the left. Here’s mine on the right, published with @InnovationPress,” she shared in a tweet.
She added that she thought she may have been “just making too big a deal about the title and cover being similar” until “read the description.”
In support of a fellow author, I just ordered her picture book entitles YOUR NAME IS A SONG.
Written by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and illustrated by Luisa Uribe. Published by Innovation Press
ACCEPT NO IMITATIONS! pic.twitter.com/TIWJIeeFqu— GabrielleSchoeffield (@gschoeffield5) April 1, 2022
“What is my book about? About a girl on the first day of school whose name gets mispronounced and whose mother helps her to see the beauty and musicality of names,” Thompkins-Bigelow tweeted. “The description of her book shows that a little girl is frustrated with having her peers and teachers say her name incorrectly, so her mother tells her about ‘the beauty, history, and magic behind names’.”
Thompkins-Bigelow went on to share how devastated she is by seeing a clear copycat of her book, which was released in 2020.
“I worked for over a year on that book,” Thompkins-Bigelow continued. “Took two years to find an agent and get it published and for some celebrity who probably didn’t even write it to just steal my idea. I am shaking.”
Ashanti has not responded to these claims and My Name Is A Song is still available for pre-order.
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