BIO

New York Times best-selling author CAROLE BOSTON WEATHERFORD has more than 75 books that have received a combined 11 American Youth Media Awards, including Newbery Honor and Caldecott Honors, Sibert Honors and Coretta Scott King Awards. Among her acclaimed titles are KIN: Rooted in Hope, BOX: Unspeakable Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, Freedom in Congo Square, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hammer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom.  Two-time NAACP Image Award winner, Carole teaches at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. She most recently received an Image nomination for her book How Do You Spell Unfair.

KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE

The verse novel, Kin: Rooted in Hope is a mother-son collaboration tracing the pair’s lineage from 1770 to the early 20^th century. Multi-voiced first-person poems and dramatic scratch board illustrations done by Jeffery Boston Weatherford reclaim lost narratives of the enslaved community and of the Freemen who co-founded nearby all-Black Reconstruction-era villages. The Weatherfords’ family story is intimate yet all too universal among African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved.

HOW DO YOU SPELL UNFAIR: MACNOLIA COX AND THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE

How Do You Spell Unfair? MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee, illustrated by Frank Morrison, tells the inspiring true story of the first African American finalist in the National Spelling Bee. Despite her rare intellect, MacNolia faced racism during the competition, particularly from the southern judges. The book centers Macnolia’s determination as she defies discrimination and pursues her passion for words against all odds.