Category Archive: Author Voices

“I Remember Meeting John Lewis Like It Was This Morning.”

Posted in: Author Voices

This blog post was written by guest blogger, Kyle Zimmer, president, CEO, and co-founder of First Book. Dear First Book Community: Over the course of my life, I have been fortunate enough to meet talented, famous people from time to time.  Best-selling authors, musicians, and, as a long-time Washingtonian, many... Read more

A Special ‘Thank You’ from Author Marissa Meyer

Posted in: Author Voices, For Educators

Teachers prepare each and every one of us for the road ahead in life — impacting our lives in a way that goes beyond the classroom. Our friend, Author Marissa Meyer — the brains behind The Lunar Chronicles series, has a message for each and every educator that have motivated... Read more

Celebrating Friendiversary with Mo Willems

Posted in: Author Voices

Friendiversary is all about appreciating your friends, old and new, and remembering the good times you’ve had together. For First Book, one of our oldest and best author friends is Mo Willems, award-winning creator of the Elephant and Piggie children’s book series. Like any old friend, when we get together... Read more

Building Inclusive Classrooms with YASMIN en Español

Posted in: Author Voices, Our Bookshelf

Today’s blog post is written by guest blogger Saadia Faruqi, author of the YASMIN series of early reader titles. Read more

All I Ever Wanted… Stories of Children of the Incarcerated

Posted in: Author Voices

"All I Ever Wanted…" is a very special book, written by nine young people with parents in prison and one older woman looking back, with the goal of helping others to know how it feels to go through the rites of passage of childhood and adolescence without a father or mother, and how it feels to suddenly find out the truth. Read more

Q&A with Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Author Partner, Tom Angleberger

Posted in: Author Voices

What could be better than pizza and books? For us at First Book, not much! Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! program will provide 10,000 books to classrooms for the 2019-2020 school year via First Book to encourage students to find joy in reading. We spoke with this year’s BOOK IT! author... Read more

Q&A with Gaia Cornwall, Author of Jabari Jumps

Posted in: Author Voices

Gaia Cornwall is an illustrator and children’s book author, best known for her book Jabari Jumps. We asked her about her creative process, what it’s like to read her book with children, and her tips on being brave. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Why This Story?... Read more

Q&A with Mary Louise Sanchez, author of “The Wind Called My Name”

Posted in: Author Voices

Today we wish a happy “book birthday” to The Wind Called My Name – a middle-grade historical fiction novel about a young Latina girl & her family settling in Wyoming during The Great Depression. We here at First Book are particularly excited to see this title hit bookshelves today! Its author, Mary Louise... Read more

LIGHTS ALIVE! Why Telling Your Story Matters

Posted in: Author Voices, For Educators

Guest post by author Laura Geringer Bass. There is a scene in my new middle grade novel, The Girl with More than One Heart, that is based on a real life parent conference I had once with my son’s kindergarten teacher. I called the chapter “Lights Alive” which is the... Read more

Telling Our Stories: Author Laura Geringer Bass & the #BeYourOwn Writing Workshop

Posted in: Author Voices, For Educators

Everyone has a story to tell. Often, we need a little encouragement to listen to the voice inside our heads and hearts that tells us, “Be your own!” We are so proud to work with author Laura Geringer Bass to help empower young readers and writers to tell their own... Read more