Nicola Yoon is the #1 NYT bestselling author of Everything, Everything, which is now a major motion picture, and The Sun Is Also a Star, a National Book Award finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor Book and a Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner. She grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn, and lives in Los [ Read the full article… ]
Category: Accolades and Recognition


Thank You
The Brown Bookshelf Team would like to thank everyone who signed on to, shared, and supported our Open Declaration in Support of Children. As we move toward the celebration of our tenth 28 Days Later campaign, we are including plans to, as the Declaration states, “create…empower children, affirm their lives, and stand up for change.” [ Read the full article… ]

Honoring The Nominees
Congratulations to those authors and illustrators that received a nomination for the 2013 NAACP Image Awards. It’s no surprise that many are previous 28 Days Later spotlights. The Brown Bookshelf prides itself on being among the first to honor these, in some cases unsung, creative artists. Literary Work – Children Fifty Cents and a Dream [ Read the full article… ]

Literary Awards: The Best Books of 2008
It’s that time of year again to recognize the best and brightest in books for 2008 according to various giants in the publishing industry. First up, The New York Times announced its Notable Children’s Books of 2008 which includes Walter Dean Myers’ Sunrise Over Fallujah on its list. Publishers Weekly joined in the praise for [ Read the full article… ]

28 & Beyond: The Making of Dr. Truelove
I dislike controversy. I’m drawn to controversy. In between my two realities lies the author of young adult fiction. While the conscious side of me never wants to piss off the literary influencers by writing something they’d deem censor-worthy, when I’m writing (my unconscious side) I’m not thinking about anyone except the characters at hand. That [ Read the full article… ]

28 & Beyond: The Divine Series
Known for her Christian fiction titles written for adults, it was a delight last year to encounter Jacquelin Thomas’ debut YA title Simply Divine which is the first title in a series of books about fifteen year old Divine Matthews-Hardison. After turmoil erupts with her parents, she is forced to go live with a family [ Read the full article… ]

28 & Beyond: It Chicks
The wild popularity of the Gossip Girl series has resulted in a strange and often contentious divide among those looking for good books for young adult readers and those who read them, regularly. On one side, you have some influencers who absolutely cannot understand the appeal of a book where girls are catty, fashion rules and [ Read the full article… ]

Thank You For Brown Bookshelving!
What a month it’s been. What started out as a simple exercise in shelf awareness has grown into a full-fledged mission to bring authors and readers of all backgrounds, ethnicities and races together to celebrate books, the authors who write them and the illustrators who make them beautiful. The support from visitors to our site, [ Read the full article… ]