*Derrick Barnes

Thanks to Composition Shop bookstore in Longmont, award-winning author Derrick Barnes visited with our 5th-9th graders on Monday, September 22. Denver was the first stop in his two-month-long book tour for his new book, The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze. Barnes told students he was inspired to start writing when he was 10 years old, and when he asked the audience who else loved creating things, hands raised around the auditorium.

Barnes shared some of the awards his books, including Crown: Ode to a Fresh Cut, I Am Every Good Thing, and Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice, have won, including being a National Book Award Finalist, winning the Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor, the Caldecott Honor, the Kirkus Book Award, and the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award. But Barnes said there were times in his career when he almost gave up and told students that Crown, his 9th book published, is his first book to ever win an award. 

Barnes’ message for students: keep going, keep pushing forward. He shared that his newest book took years of dedication and many rounds of revisions. He also encouraged students to read. Barnes said his mother took him to the library from a very early age. Barnes believes his love of stories has allowed him to learn from and respect a variety of people, and he hopes his books will give the same gift to his readers.