A lovely day at the African American Children’s Book Fair 2024! For info visit: http://theafricanamericanchildrensbookproject.org (IG Reel: https://www.instagram.com/olugbemisolarhudayperkovich/)
COVER REVEAL: Makeda Makes A Home for Subway!
NEW Book Alert! Lydia Mba’s art makes me so happy every time I see it. Please join me in welcoming the first book in my new I Can Read! series: MAKEDA MAKES A BIRTHDAY TREAT. Out now!
Ooooh have you seen the Cover Reveal for my next novel, out in January from Levine Querido? Check out YOU'RE BREAKING MY HEART, a novel about the messiness of grief, the complexity of memory, and the power of the stories we tell ourselves.
Happymaking news x 2! OPERATION SISTERHOOD is a 2023 Teacher and Librarian Favorite Award Winner! Check out all of the lists for some fabulous summer reading options!
I was honoured to collaborate with Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin on THE SUN DOES SHINE Young Readers Edition, and had the opportunity to create an Educator’s Guide to accompany the book. Available as a free download from Macmillan School & Library!
SAVING EARTH and MAE MAKES A WAY on the CCBC Choices List — check them out here!
Thrilled that MAE MAKES A WAY was selected for a RISE 2023 honour! So many wonderful titles on that list, including one of my favourite new releases, NOT DONE YET by Tameka Fryer Brown and Nina Crews!
Honoured to see THE SUN DOES SHINE on the Best of the Year Lists from School Library Journal and the Chicago Public Library!
It was such a pleasure to chat with Loraine Ballard Morrill on the iHeart Radio Philadelphia Community Podcast!
A second star for THE SUN DOES SHINE, from School Library Journal!
THE SUN DOES SHINE (Young Readers Edition) is out now! It was an incredible honour to work on the adaptation of this memoir by Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin. Mr. Hinton spoke about his message to young people on CBS THIS MORNING, and we both spoke about the adaptation process with Betsy Bird at School Library Journal.
Grateful for this wonderful review of MAE MAKES A WAY from Kirkus!
A lovely review of MAE MAKES A WAY in the NY Times!
OPERATION SISTERHOOD in the NY Times!
The lovely school and library team at Random House has created a fun and dynamic educator’s guide for OPERATION SISTERHOOD along with two beautiful book buddies! It’s available for download here.
If you’ll be at TLA, stop by and say hello! I’ll be signing OPERATION SISTERHOOD on Tuesday, April 26th at 11:00 AM in the Authors Area, Aisle 5. I’ll also be on the “We Are Family: New Books That Connect Us” panel that same day at 3:00 PM.
SAVING EARTH: Climate Change and the Fight for Our Future is out now!
My middle grade novel OPERATION SISTERHOOD is starting of 2022 in style and great company as an INDIENEXT pick! Thank you so much to Mystery To Me books and all the independent booksellers working incredibly hard to share our stories with readers.
Grateful for the thoughtful questions from Ashley, and the lovely conversation over at We Need Diverse Books!
Thank you Kirkus! IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS named as one of the Best of 2021!
Honoured to see IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS on this BEST OF list at Colours of Us!
Honoured to be included in a conversation on writing, wondering, and asking why over at Two Writing Teachers!
Sharing a cover over at The Brown Bookshelf, and oh my goodness, is it BEAUTIFUL! Many thanks to extraordinary artist Andrea Pippins for her stunning art on MAE MAKES A WAY! It’s been an honour to collaborate with Andrea and give a tip of the hat to fashion designer, entrepreneur, and civil rights icon Mae Reeves in my newest picture book, from Random House Kids and the Smithsonian National Museum for African American History and Culture.
What a joy to chat with the wonderful Charnaie Gordon on her Here Wee Read podcast!
I wrote a note to educators, in “unprecedented times,” published in School Library Journal.
WONDERFUL WOMEN OF THE WORLD! I was so honoured to contribute to the incredible Laurie Halse Anderson’s graphic anthology from DC Comics. Read on for a preview of my piece on the phenomenal Mari Copeny, with art by Sharee Miller.
Coming Soon…
OPERATION SISTERHOOD, my next middle grade novel, is available for pre-order!
cover art by Brittney Bond; cover design, Katrina Damkoehler
COVER REVEAL! Many thanks to HERE WEE READ for sharing the gorgeous cover of OPERATION SISTERHOOD! Art by the fabulous Brittney Bond, and designed by Katrina Damkoehler. It is a seriously happymaking gift! Look at those girls! Operation Sisterhood is available for pre-order now!
Thrilled to see IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS on the AALBC bestseller list! So grateful to Troy Johnson for all of his work and advocacy.
Black Children’s Books and Authors has a summer reading list up — and IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS is there!
Many thanks to YA BOOKS CENTRAL for the interview — and the IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS GIVEAWAY!
On the way — coming in 2022! SAVING EARTH: The Climate Crisis and the Fight For Our Future.
It’s always a pleasure to chat with librarian, book advocate, and Diversity Jedi Edith Campbell. We talked IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS, Black Joy, and summer fun.
Very grateful for this lovely review of IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS and the thoughtful questions from Kellee Moye over at Unleashing Readers!
IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS received a starred review from Kirkus! “The cast of characters is fully realized, distinct, and absolutely lovable, and E’s journey will resonate. An exceptional novel with broad appeal.” WoooOOOOT!
COVER REVEAL! For my novel IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS, from Six Foot Press, a companion to the film BOY GENIUS, starring Miles Brown and Skylan Brooks.
New book alert! YOU’RE BREAKING MY HEART, out in 2024. Thrilled to be working with Nick Thomas at Levine Querido.
The African American Children’s Book Fair is the ultimate celebration of Black voices in children’s literature! Check out the lineup and the booklist today!
It’s 28 DAYS LATER time on The Brown Bookshelf — celebrate Black books with us!
Thank you to Children’s Museum of the Arts for including SOMEDAY IS NOW on this BHM book list!
Hey, if you do any gift shopping at Anthropologie, you can buy SOMEDAY IS NOW!
So much fun writing about real life young wonder woman Mari Copeny for Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wonder Women of History!
Many thanks to Katie Goncalves at Detroit Mom for the 8th Grade Superzero shout out on this Back to School list!
Thank you so much to Renée Watson for including Two Naomis with these wonderful titles spotlighting Black joy and resilience!
Love this “Change Can’t Wait” resource from the Connecticut Sun, and grateful to see Someday Is Now on the list!
Over at PBS Parents, I shared some of my favourite media resources for engaging young children in conversations about race.
Many thanks to MOTHER for including me in this wonderful list!
Had a wonderful time chatting with Grace Lin for the Kids Ask Authors podcast!
Thrilled to be featured in a Children’ s Media Association Member Spotlight!
Many thanks to StarTrek.com for including ABOVE AND BEYOND in “Your Tiny Starfleet Officers Will Love These Books”!
Celebrating the release of my adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a companion to Sesame Workshop’s Ghostwriter reboot on Apple TV. Available now!
A wonderful day as usual at the African American Children’s Book Fair in Philadelphia! One of my all-time favourite days! February 1, 2020. Learn more about the festival over at the Brown Bookshelf.
Great coverage of the first Madeleine L’Engle conference, in Publishers Weekly!
Hope to see you at the Madeleine L’Engle Walking on Water Conference on Saturday, November 16, in NYC!
Looking forward to conversations with NYC public school educators to kick off November!
Had a wonderful time this summer teaching at Pine Manor College in the Solstice MFA program. Maybe I’ll see you next summer? Here’s an interview that I did with a member of the Solstice family.
Wonderful time at the American Library Association Annual Conference, celebrating 50 years of the Coretta Scott King Awards! Many thanks to all who joined us to talk THE HERO NEXT DOOR, the middle grade anthology from We Need Diverse Books, and for The Brown Bookshelf’s “Looking Back, Moving Forward,” celebrating the classic and contemporary work of Black children’s book creators, scholars, and librarians. I look forward to hanging with educators again this fall, at ILA and NCTE!
Had big fun in my birthplace at The Bronx Book Festival on June 8th!
I’M READING: QUEENIE, by Candice Carty-Williams, BLACK AND BRITISH: A FORGOTTEN HISTORY, by David Olusoga.
I’M READING: The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games, by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas; We Got This, by Cornelius Minor; Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal.
I’m so honoured to have had the opportunity to work on THE HERO NEXT DOOR, WNDB’s middle grade anthology, which received a STARRED REVIEW from Kirkus! “The collection offers a vivid and vibrant assemblage of authors, experiences, and constructions of heroism….A stellar collection that, in celebrating heroes, helps readers find the universal in the specific.” Many thanks and congratulations to the wonderful contributors: William Alexander, Joseph Bruchac, Lamar Giles, Mike Jung, Hena Khan, Juana Medina, Ellen Oh, R. J. Palacio, Linda Sue Park and Anna Dobbin, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ronald L. Smith, Rita Williams-Garcia, and short-story contest winner Suma Subramaniam! Pre-order today!
I’m humbled and thrilled by the news that SOMEDAY IS NOW was included on this PENN GSE list of The Best Books of 2018 for Young Readers! Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and her team do incredible work— be sure to check out Humanizing Stories (@HealingFictions) on Twitter and Dr. Thomas’ upcoming book, The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games.
SOMEDAY IS NOW was named a 2018 Notable Social Studies Trade Book! Thank you so much to all who read and shared.
ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA’S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW was included in this Book Riot list of 25 of the Best Children’s Books About Space!
I am thrilled to be joining an incredible roster of children’s book people at the 27th Annual African American Children’s Book Fair on February 2 in Philadelphia, PA. Come on out and celebrate with us!
NAOMIS TOO WAS AWARDED A NERDIE!!! WOOOOOOOOT! So much gratitude for that wonderful team of committed educators and readers. And the Naomis are in phenomenal company!
"A sequel that packs as much heart, humor, and understanding as the first." NAOMIS TOO, the sequel, is HERE! Signed copies of this and my other titles are available at Books of Wonder in NYC.
OUT NOW! My nonfiction debuts -- SOMEDAY IS NOW: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-Ins, a picture book biography with starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal. What an honor it is to share a little bit of this incredible story. And ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA'S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW, celebrating NASA'S 60 years of exploration and research.
Honoured to speak with the Oklahoman about Clara Luper and her remarkable students!
I'm reading: HOW TO LOVE A JAMAICAN; A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN; PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE; MONDAY'S NOT COMING
In the U.S.? Great info on civic participation from Celeste P.
#FamiliesBelongTogether Lunchtime for Change
Universal Representation for Unaccompanied Children
I'm reading: LICCLE BIT; WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY; HEADS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE; DRAWING WORDS AND WRITING PICTURES
Find me on Instagram: @olugbemisolarhudayperkovich
This September! Thrilled to announce ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA'S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW! Can't wait to share all of the hidden histories and cool facts (robot bees! space origami!) with readers!
NAOMIS TOO will be out in the world this September! Want to see the COVER?!!!
I'm reading: FEELING FREE; BLACK INK; JADA JONES, CLASS ACT; and PADDINGTON RACES AHEAD.
So excited to be editing THE HERO NEXT DOOR, the Fall 2019 middle grade anthology from We Need Diverse Books! Contributors include William Alexander, Joseph Bruchac, Lamar Giles, Mike Jung, Hena Khan, Ellen Oh, R. J. Palacio, Linda Sue Park and Anna Dobbin, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ronald L. Smith, Rita Williams-Garcia, and an illustrated story by Juana Medina. Read on to find out the winner of the HERO NEXT DOOR Short Story contest!
With the release of Ava DuVernay's film adaptation of A WRINKLE IN TIME and BECOMING MADELEINE by Charlotte Voiklis Jones and Léna Roy, I reflected on how Madeleine L'Engle and her work had a big and beautiful impact on my life.
I'm Reading: SING, UNBURIED, SING, THE SEVENTH WISH; re-reading favourites TILL WE HAVE FACES and BURR
Thanks so much to David Valdes Greenwood for including 8th GRADE SUPERZERO on this list!
I'm Reading: ORPHAN ISLAND, YORK, WE LOVE YOU, CHARLIE FREEMAN, RISE OF THE JUMBIES, and THE SERPENT'S SECRET: KIRANMALA AND THE KINGDOM BEYOND.
Many thanks to Sa'iyda Shabazz for including TWO NAOMIS on this great Scary Mommy list, along with faves like THE JUMBIES, THE GAUNTLET, THE OTHER SIDE, WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON, and more!
I'm Reading: The Gauntlet, Star Side of Bird Hill, Dear Ijeawele: A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, Born A Crime, and Searching for Zion.
I am such a GINORMOUS fan of The Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility -- it was extra special to see this review of Two Naomis on their site! Woot!
I had a wonderful time talking the joy and power of diverse literature, inclusion, empowerment, and discomfort on NCTE's Voices from the Middle podcast. My related article for the March 2017 issue of Voices, SAY THAT TO MY FACE: On Teaching and Learning Diverse Literature for Empowerment and Enjoyment (Or, On Feeling Itchy) is also online.
My latest on Brightly: Books to help children understand more about the refugee experience.
Woot! Many thanks to The Undefeated for including the Naomis on this great list.
I'm Reading: Just finished and LOVED Swing Time, reading Jeff Chang's We Gon' Be Alright now; so much more to add to my shelves!
TWO NAOMIS got a Nerdie!!!!! So many thanks to the amazing Nerdy Book Club team for the honour -- it means so much. I'm a great admirer of their exemplary work sharing literature and book joy with us all, so this is extra sweet. Woohoo!!!! We got a Nerdie!!!!!
WHOA! TWO NAOMIS is an NAACP Image award nominee!!! I am THRILLED and SO, SO GRATEFUL!
Hooray! I took so much joy in perusing these flyers as a kid...now 8th Grade Superzero is a part of the Scholastic Reading Club/We Need Diverse Bookswinter flyer, and I'm seriously happydancing!
I am proud to be a member of The Brown Bookshelf. Please join us in our Open Declaration in Support of Children
TWO NAOMIS, out NOW. Grateful for starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist!
"A compassionate, necessary tale about the real-life act of building a blended family."Thrilled by these kind words about TWO NAOMIS from Hope Wabuke at The Root!
"Two Naomis is quiet, it’s smart, it’s full of real people dealing with real—and messy—feelings. It’s the sort of book that makes my cold heart feel all warm and fuzzy; it’s the sort of book that I hope inspires companion novels because all of the side characters—even the ones that we never actually meet!—are so immediately interesting and unique and again, real; it’s the sort of book that I just want to thrust at people and say, “HERE! READ THIS!” So, so grateful for this lovely post by Leila Roy over at Kirkus, and LOVE the Reading Challenge idea!
"Warm, upbeat, and satisfying" -- thank you, Publshers Weekly!
A starred review! "A smart, endearing story about two girls who are blending families, growing up, and building a friendship." Thank you, Kirkus!
TWO NAOMIS is a Junior Library Guild Selection! Woot!
Many thanks to Sam Bloom for this lovely Throwback Thursday review of 8th Grade Superzero!
Had a blast with my co-author, Audrey Vernick, talking TWO NAOMIS with Phil Bildner. Out in September. Pre-order today!
Thank you to The Root for recommending TWO NAOMIS!
What a beautiful and powerful day at the 2016 Kweli Journal Children's Book Writers' Conference!
Looking for other work? Some of my writing on literacy, parenting, crafting, and more can be found online
Justice On The Lesson Plan, my post on literature and social justice over at The Brown Bookshelf.
Especially grateful for this generous review from author and teacher Megan Morrison