Summary: <p>"I stopped reading books that had humans in them after Harriet [the Spy] because I knew there wouldn't be any humans like me," — Sarah Moon, author of <em>Sparrow</em>. </p> <p>At Scholastic, we're proud to publish authors of different backgrounds, cultures, races, abilities, and orientations. But we also know that many of our authors have felt the same way Sarah did as a child. Like her, many felt that they didn't exist in children's books when they were growing up. And like her, many are now writing to change that for future generations. We invited them to share their stories and to talk about why representation in children's books is so crucial. These stories will break your heart, but they will also give you hope: hope that today's children will never doubt that they can be the heroes of their own stories. </p> <p><strong>Contributing authors:</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://ghoststar.net" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Daniel José Older, author of the Shadowshaper series</a></li> <li> <a href="http://wendyshang.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Wendy Wan-Long Shang,</a><a href="http://wendyshang.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> author of books like <em>This is Just a Test </em>and </a><em><a href="http://wendyshang.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The Way Home Looks No</a>w</em> </li> <li><a href="http://talkinginthedark.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Billy Merrell, author of <em>Vanilla</em></a></li> <li><a href="http://kodykeplinger.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Kody Keplinger, author of <em>Run</em></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.lrgiles.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Lamar Giles, author of <em>Overturned</em></a></li> <li><a href="https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/sparrow-by-sarah-moon/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Sarah Moon, author of <em>Sparrow</em></a></li> <li><a href="https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/no-good-deed-by-goldy-moldavsky/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Goldy Moldovsky, author of <em>No Good Deed</em></a></li> <li><a href="http://varianjohnson.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Varian Johnson, author of <em>To Catch a Cheat</em></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.angelacervantes.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Angela Cervantes, author of <em>Allie, First at Last</em></a></li> <li><a href="https://billkonigsberg.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Bill Konigsberg, author of <em>Honestly Ben</em></a></li> </ul><p><strong>Special thanks:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Music composed by Lucas Elliot Eberl</li> <li>Sound mix and editing by Daniel Jordan and Christopher Johnson</li> <li>Produced by Emily Morrow</li> </ul>
