Rachel Renee Russell grew up in Saint Joseph, Michigan, a small city located on the shore of Lake Michigan. She has 2 younger sisters and 2 younger twin brothers. She wrote and illustrated her first book in 6th grade as a birthday present for my brothers. Her New York Times bestselling series, beginning with DORK [ Read the full article… ]
28 Days Year: 2011
2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2013 · 2014 · 2015 · 2016 · 2017 · 2018 · 2019 · 2020 · 2021 · 2022 · 2023 · 2024
Day 18: Vanguard PB Author, Joyce Carol Thomas
Writing a book: tough. Getting one traditionally published: even tougher. Any writer who has penned a work that’s commanded the attention of an editor, and inspired a publisher to commit tremendous resources to bring it to market, he or she has earned the honor and respect that such an accomplishment deserves. But there are books…and then [ Read the full article… ]
Day 17: E.B. Lewis
E.B. Lewis is the award-winning illustrator of more than fifty books for children, a few of which include Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys, (Simon & Schuster, 1999); Talkin’ about Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, (Orchard, 2002); Coming on Home Soon, (Putnam, 2004); The Negro Speaks of Rivers, (Hyperion, 2009). In 2003, [ Read the full article… ]
Day 16: Kevin Lewis
Parents know the name Kevin Lewis and storytime go together. His debut picture book, Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo (Hyperion), has 121 — that’s not a typo –five-star reviews on Amazon.com. Reading just a few you feel the special connection people have with his story: “This was my son’s favorite book, and one that I never tire of reading.” “My [ Read the full article… ]
Day 15: Lynn Joseph
Lynn Joseph was born in Trinidad and was raised in a family of three children by a mother who loved books, and who read Shakespeare to her and her sister Christine, as bedtime stories. Lynn, like most writers, loved to read and she remembers her very first book, a collection of Grimm Fairy Tales with [ Read the full article… ]
Day 14: Ernest Hill
One day, we’ll probably actually get rid of the terms “boy” book, “black” book and other such tags that dictates who the reader should be. But until then, so that everyone is speaking the same language and so that gatekeepers get an idea of who the lowest hanging fruit audience is for a novel – [ Read the full article… ]
Day 13: ReShonda Tate Billingsley
While maybe readers know the award-winning ReShonda Tate Billingsley for her mainstream fiction for adults, she is also the author of the teen inspirational fiction series, “Good Girlz.” The first book in the series, Nothing But Drama (Simon and Schuster/Pocket, 2006) focuses on the friendship between four girls— Camille, Angel, Jasmine, and Alexis—that meet in [ Read the full article… ]
Day 12: Torrey Maldonado
Coe Booth called Torrey Maldonado’s debut novel, Secret Saturdays (G.P. Putnam’s Sons), “a story you won’t forget.” E.R. Frank said it “ought to be required reading at middle schools everywhere.” Rita Williams-Garcia said it’s “playground tough with a sweet center.” Intrigued? Well, here’s more. Maldonado, a veteran New York City public school teacher, says writing helped save him as [ Read the full article… ]