Public Libraries

As much as my younger self loved final girls like Gerda from The Snow Queen, Buffy Summers, and Clarice Starling however, these characters didn’t exactly reflect my lived experience. They were all white women and they were all at least coded as being Christian, if not outright stated to be so. So in 2019, I decided to write a final girl who was like me: Ilana Lopez, the biracial heroine of The Ghosts of Rose Hill. 

I like to think series books are the “Comfort Tacos” of the book world; they pull you in and swaddle you up in a world where you know you belong, know you feel comfortable, and where everything is just a little easier.

EVERY type of hair is worthy to be praised and celebrated!

The authors of THE AGATHAS talk about their experience writing their book, a story about two teen girls who go rogue to solve the disappearance of Brooke Donovan, the richest and most popular girl at their high school.

Here’s to many come outs. Here’s to not having to come out at all. Here’s to coming out for your own reasons, on your own timeline. Here’s to our bookshelves and our libraries reflecting all of this—and much more!

The simple truth is, there has never been a time in history when simply knowing the truth was such a monumental task. Now imagine what that task must look like to a young reader.

I wanted to talk about how librarians (like you) are appreciated by slow learners (like me). That is to say, not always at the moment.

I might have not lived in a castle or ruled a kingdom. I have never needed to break a curse by finding my one true love. But I have wielded magic to defeat a moat monster more than once either in my imagination or in a video game or with a deck of cards.

When people ask how my depression started, I say three little words: The Lion King.