Amy Sarig King is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". She is also the only two-time recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Literature for Dig (2019) and as editor and contributor to The Collectors: Stories (2023).
Kwame Alexander is an American writer of poetry and children's fiction.
Peter Brown is an American writer and illustrator who is best known for children's picture books. He won a Caldecott Honor in 2013 for his illustration of Creepy Carrots!
Cathy Camper is an Arab-American artist, librarian and author of books for children and teens. She wrote Bugs Before Time, illustrated by Steve Kirk, and the graphic novel series Lowriders in Space, illustrated by Raúl the Third. She has also exhibited seed art, entering work in the Minnesota State Fair's Crop Art show starting in 1989. Her portrait of James Brown was featured in Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris.
Alex Gino is a genderqueer American children's book writer. Gino's debut book, Melissa, was the winner of the 2016 Stonewall Book Award and the 2016 Lambda Literary Award in the category of LGBT Children's/Young Adult.
Jason Reynolds is an American author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle grade audiences. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in neighboring Oxon Hill, Maryland, Reynolds found inspiration in rap and had an early focus on poetry, publishing several poetry collections before his first novel in 2014, When I Was the Greatest, which won the John Steptoe Award for New Talent.
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America is a non-fiction book about race in the United States by the American historian Ibram X. Kendi, published April 12, 2016 by Bold Type Books, an imprint of PublicAffairs. The book won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.
All American Boys, published in 2015 by Atheneum, is a young adult novel written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. The book tells the story of two teenage boys, Rashad Butler and Quinn Collins, as they handle racism and police brutality in their community. The novel has gained attention in recent years, becoming the 26th most banned book of 2022, due to its inclusion of anti-police messages, alcohol, drug usage, and profanity.
Long Way Down is a young adult novel in verse by Jason Reynolds, published October 24, 2017, by Atheneum Books. The book was longlisted for the National Book Award and was named a Printz Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and Newbery Medal Honor Book, alongside other awards and positive reviews.
The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog is a young adult novel written by Adam Gidwitz and illuminated by Hatem Aly, published by Dutton Children's Books in 2016, and inspired by The Canterbury Tales. It is set in medieval France and describes how three magical children meet each other and become outlaws. It was named a Newbery Honor book in 2017.
Freedom in Congo Square is a 2016 poetic nonfiction picture book by Carole Boston Weatherford, and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. It was published in hardcover by Little Bee Books. The book provides an account of 19th-century slaves in New Orleans who were able to gather in one place on Sundays: Congo Square. In addition to the book's main text, "an introduction and afterword provide further historic detail."
Anna and the Swallow Man is a young adult historical fiction novel by Gavriel Savit, published January 26, 2016 by Knopf. The book is a New York Times best seller and received the Sydney Taylor Book Award for Teen Readers and the Odyssey Award.
Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks is a young adult novel written by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Alexander Nabaum, and published October 8, 2019 by Atheneum Books. The book is a New York Times best seller, National Book Award for Young People's Literature finalist (2019), Coretta Scott King Award honor book (2020), and Carnegie Medal recipient (2021).
Patina is a young adult novel by Jason Reynolds, published August 29, 2017 by Atheneum. It is the second book in Reynold's Track series, preceded by Ghost (2016) and followed by Sunny (2018) and Lu (2018).
X: A Novel is a young adult novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon, published January 6, 2015 by Candlewick Press.
The Sun Is Also a Star is a young adult novel by American author Nicola Yoon, published November 1, 2016, by Delacorte Press. The book follows two characters, one of whom is about to be deported, and explores “the ways in which we are all connected and the ways in which people across all walks of life have much more in common than they think they do.”
Shaun David Hutchinson is an American author of young adult texts. His novels often "combine speculative elements with LGBT characters and themes."
The Ogress and the Orphans is a children's book by American writer Kelly Barnhill and published on March 8, 2022, by Algonquin Books. It counts the events of a small fictional town, where the library is burned down and an orphan goes missing, which leads to its citizen blaming an ogress who had just moved in.
The Wild Robot is a trilogy of science fiction novels for children and teenagers by American writer and illustrator Peter Brown, which consists of the following novels: The Wild Robot (2016), The Wild Robot Escapes (2018), and The Wild Robot Protects (2023). The books are published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The novels have been well received by critics.
Stuntboy, in the Meantime is a 2021 middle grade graphic novel written by Jason Reynolds and illustrated by Raúl the Third.
