New York Times bestselling author NIKKI GRIMES was inducted into the Black Authors Hall of Fame in 2023. Her honors include the Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the ALAN Award for significant contributions to young adult literature, the Children’s Literature Legacy Medal, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Author of the Coretta Scott King Award-winner Bronx Masquerade, and five Coretta Scott King Author Honors. She also won the Printz Honor and Sibert Honor for her memoir Ordinary Hazards.  Her latest titles include Garvey’s Choice:The Graphic Novel, (a School Library Journal 2023 Best Book); Lullaby for the King, and A Walk in the Woods, recipient of 8 starred reviews, and 11 Best Book listings for 2023, including the New York Times, NPR, and Smithsonian Magazine.  Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.

A WALK IN THE WOODS

Life imitates art in this tale of a Black boy wrestling with the loss of his father.  A walk in the woods to find a treasure his father left behind leads to the beginning of healing, and the knowledge that loving bonds endure beyond death.  Legendary illustrator, Jerry Pinkney, died before completing the artwork.  His son, illustrator Brian Pinkney, signed on to finish the project and, in the process, experienced the same emotions, made the same discoveries, and found the same healing as the boy in the story.