Carole Boston Weatherford is an American author and critic. She has published over 50 children's books, primarily non-fiction and poetry. The music of poetry has fascinated Weatherford and motivated her literary career. She has won multiple awards for her books, including the 2022 Coretta Scott King Award for Author for her book Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre. As a critic, she is best known for her controversial criticism of Pokémon character Jynx and Dragon Ball character Mr. Popo.
Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane is a children’s picture book written by American author and critic Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Sean Qualls. It tells the story of a young John Coltrane growing up in the South in the 1930s. It was published by Henry Holt in 2008.
Abdi Nazemian is an Iranian-American author, screenwriter, and producer. His debut novel, The Walk-In Closet, won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Debut Fiction at the 27th Lambda Literary Awards. He has subsequently received a second Lambda Literary Award for his young adult novel Only This Beautiful Moment, as well as a Stonewall Book Award for Only This Beautiful Moment and a Stonewall Honor for Like a Love Story, both from the American Library Association.
Angie Thomas is an American young adult author, best known for writing The Hate U Give (2017). Her second young adult novel, On the Come Up, was released on February 25, 2019.
Ying Chang Compestine is a Chinese American author, speaker, television host and chef. She has written over twenty-seven books including Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party (novel), based on her life growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution., and a middle grade novel, Morning Sun in Wuhan, set in Wuhan, China.
Brandy Colbert is an American author of young adult fiction and nonfiction.
Martin W. Sandler is an American historian, writer and teacher, the author of more than 50 books about American history and photography. Notable works include Secret Subway (2009), The Impossible Rescue (2012), Imprisoned (2013), How the Beatles Changed the World (2014), Iron Rails, Iron Men, and the Race to Link the Nation (2015), The Whydah (2017), Apollo 8 (2018), 1919 (2019), and Race Through the Skies (2020). Among other honors, he won the 2019 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
Before She Was Harriet is a 2017 children's picture book written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and illustrated by James Ransome, first published by Holiday House. It was awarded an honorary Coretta Scott King Award in 2018.
James E. Ransome is an American illustrator of over 60 children's books. He has also illustrated greetings cards and magazines, and has been commissioned for murals, including three for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Animal Problems is a children's book series by Jory John, illustrated by Lane Smith, and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. The series includes three books: Penguin Problems (2016), Giraffe Problems (2018), and Cat Problems (2021).
Donna Barba Higuera is an American children's book author. Her debut novel, Lupe Wong Won't Dance, was a Pura Belpré Award honor book and PNBA winner in 2021. Her middle grade dystopian novel, The Last Cuentista, won the 2022 Newbery Medal and the Pura Belpré Medal.
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre is a picture book written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Published on February 2, 2021, by Carolrhoda, it tells the history behind the Tulsa race massacre in verse.
How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee is a 2023 nonfiction children's book written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Frank Morrison. It was well received by critics and was named one of the best children's books of the year by multiple sources.
The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, and Found is a 2017 nonfiction children's book by Martin W. Sandler about the Whydah, "a large, fast, and heavily armed slave ship", which was captured by pirates in 1716 and sunk shortly after. The ship was rediscovered on the ocean's floor in the 1980s, along with its tremendous riches. Throughout the book, Sandler discusses the pirates, led by Samuel Bellamy, "the causes and practices of piracy", including their "barbarous cruelty", as well as the more democratic nature of their culture.
The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure is a 2012 nonfiction children's book by American author Martin W. Sandler. The book explores the rescue of eight whaling ships trapped in the ice of the Arctic Ocean in the winter of 1897.
Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed Everything is a 2018 nonfiction children's book by American author Martin W. Sandler. The book, which includes numerous historical photographs, details the historical significance of the Apollo 8 mission, discussing the "broader context of the Cold War space race and the tumultuous events occurring in the United States", including the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, as well as growing contestations regarding the Vietnam War. Further, Apollo 8 "explores the colossal impact of the mission on the American psyche".
1919: The Year That Changed America is a 2019 non-fiction children's book by American author Martin W. Sandler. The book details various events from 1919, including the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, "which led to building code, municipal oversight, and corporate liability precedents", the Nineteenth Amendment's passing, racial tensions, the Red Scare, changing labor conditions, and the beginning of prohibition. Beyond discussing the events themselves, Sandler explain the long-standing impact of each in the United States.
Secret Subway: The Fascinating Tale of an Amazing Feat of Engineering is a 2009 non-fiction children's book by American writer and historian Martin W. Sandler. The book discusses the construction of the first subway in New York City under the guidance of American inventor, publisher, and patent lawyer Alfred Ely Beach (1826–1896). Construction on the tunnel began secretly, occurring throughout the night, and was completed just before the economic collapse of 1873. The book contains photographs from the time period, as well as maps to support to the text.
How the Beatles Changed the World is a 2014 non-fiction children's book by American writer and historian Martin W. Sandler. The book details the history of the English rock band The Beatles, organized topically with "thematic chapters on the band's impact on individual aspects of culture", ranging from their impact on fashion to "the feelings that Western music stirred in young people east of the Iron Curtain". The book draws heavily from "contemporary interviews with band members themselves and those close to them" and contains various relevant photographs.
Race Through the Skies: The Week the World Learned to Fly is a 2020 non-fiction children's book by American writer and historian Martin W. Sandler. The book focuses on a single week in August 1908 that "introduced aviation to the world", the week of an early air show and competition in Reims. Like Sandler's other books, Race Through the Skies includes contemporary photographs, newspaper clippings, and posters alongside the text, as well as detailed information about key characters in the book, including the Wright brothers, Glenn Curtiss, Jorge Chávez, and Louis Blériot.
