Scholastic

There is a phrase in Her Own Two Feet: A Rwandan Girl’s Brave Fight to Walk: amahirwe aza rimwe, which translates to “chance comes once.” When Rebeka had a chance to do something difficult and scary, we faced the challenges together. Now we’ve partnered again to share her story, so that others will be inspired to take chances that change lives.

The day after my thirteenth birthday in January 1963, Alabama governor George Wallace proclaimed, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” I sat stunned on the sofa watching the six o’clock news. It felt to me that he had just declared war. Child of the Dream is my memoir of the year that followed.

Yellow might still be a painful word to many Chinese, but it’s also the colour of gold, of Chinese royalty—just as I made sure to portray it in Caster. To begin remembering is to reclaim that power for good. And that is the power of story.

It is the truth of my childhood, remembered in my new book, Girl Under a Red Moon, in a little town called Yellow Stone in southern China.

Stories hold a lot of power. Stories tend to be a form of escape for so many people; but just as often, they serve as a way for people to see their own experiences reflected by authors and writers who have gone through the same thing. People who offer comfort to readers who are confused or hurting or scared. I struggled for a long time. Because rarely were there books I could turn to. 

Stories give us a place in which to locate our shared histories; stories are an affirmation of our selves. Stories of the past give birth to the narratives of today. Stories of the present allow dreams of the future. The stories I read gave me the courage to write my own tale.

Our job, as writers, publishers, editors, librarians, and teachers, is to share with young people stories that heal, uplift, celebrate, and empower. The power of story is the power of finding one’s own voice.

Lety is a story about Lety Muñoz, an English Language Learner (ELL) and immigrant, who volunteers at an animal shelter and becomes a shelter hero.

For many young LGBTQ people, Max and Jordan from The Music of What Happens may be the best mirror of their own lives that they’ve ever read. It may be the first time they’ve seen themselves in a story, and that’s a lifeline.