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Kamal Eugene William Bell
Kamal Eugene William Bell
Kamal Bell is the owner of Sankofa Farms, a 12-acre regenerative farm working to address the impacts that food deserts have on both urban and rural communities. Sankofa Farms Agricultural Academy provides opportunities for young men to engage in agriculture-focused STEM skill development and partners with community organizations to take food from the farms to the tables of people who need it most. The farm has been featured in Forbes, Southern Living, The News and Observer, Earth Eats, and ABC News. Bell is a doctoral student at NC State in the Agriculture Extension Education program whose work focuses on sustainable agriculture, the state of Black farming, youth advocacy, and social entrepreneurship. He lives with his family in Durham, North Carolina.
Akeem Keeps Bees!: A Close-up Look at the Honey Makers and Pollinators of Sankofa Farms
Akeem Keeps Bees!: A Close-up Look at the Honey Makers and Pollinators of Sankofa Farms
Young readers will learn the basics of beekeeping with this vibrantly illustrated book that takes place on the Sankofa Farms apiary.
Told from Akeem’s perspective, Akeem Keeps Bees! begins with the arrival and installation of a package of bees and follows Akeem and his Dad throughout the year as they inspect the hive, find the queen, deal with a swarm, harvest honey, and prepare for winter.
Every part of the process is illustrated for young readers, teaching them the special role that bees play on a farm. The author, Kamal Bell, is a leading voice among Black farmers educating and inspiring Black youth about farming and beekeeping.
Dana Alison Levy
Dana Alison Levy
Dana Alison Levy was raised by pirates but escaped at a young age and went on to earn a degree in aeronautics and puppetry. Actually, that’s not true—she just likes to make things up. That’s why she always wanted to write books. Dana writes novels and nonfiction for teens and younger kids. Her books have garnered multiple starred reviews, been named to Best Of lists, and were Junior Library Guild Selections. Also her kids like them. Her latest nonfiction book is Breaking the Mold: Changing the Face of Climate Science, and is a nonfiction book where she interviewed sixteen amazing diverse scientists and pretended to understand what they were talking about while secretly googling everything. Dana’s next novel, Not Another Banned Book, is out now.
Not Another Banned Book
Not Another Banned Book
Molly’s been putting her life back together piece by piece since her brother died two years ago. With weeks until eighth grade graduation and facing new problems at home, Molly has never needed Ms. Lewiston’s book club more.
But then someone anonymously complains about the book club and the books they’re reading. Ms. Lewiston is put on leave, the books are removed from her classroom, and book club is suspended . . . indefinitely.
Together with her friends, Molly tries to fight back. But through school walkouts, serious sleuthing, and even some plastic flamingos, Molly finds that battling injustice is only the beginning. The real challenge is confronting the truth, no matter how unwelcome. Is she brave enough to face the answers she uncovers, even when they’re not the ones she’s looking for?
SUSAN & LEXI HAAS
SUSAN & LEXI HAAS
Susan and Lexi Haas are a mother and daughter writing team focusing on disability education and advocacy. Lexi has a rare and severe form of cerebral palsy. While she can’t walk or talk, she was reading by ten months old, has an impressive memory, a keen sense of humor, and an invincible spirit. Recognizing her young daughter’s gift for words, Susan began writing with Lexi to help foster independence and develop communication, but soon learned that Lexi’s fresh perspective needed to be shared with others. In addition to writing together, Susan and Lexi also enjoy presenting to schools and organizations around the world, helping others learn about disability from a first-person narrative. The Year of the Buttered Cat is the duo’s first book. They live in Charlotte, NC.
The Year of the Buttered Cat : a mostly true story
The Year of the Buttered Cat : a mostly true story
A funny and empowering memoir from a girl with a severe form of cerebral palsy, for fans of
Wonder and Out of My Mind.
When she was just a tiny baby, something terrible happened to Lexi. It left her with an out-of-control body and without a voice. Now, as a precocious, superhero-obsessed thirteen-year-old, Lexi is counting down the final 24 hours to a risky brain surgery that might help her talk or—dare she dream it?—to walk and use her hands.
As surgery grows closer, Lexi finds an urgent, relentless need to share the story of the year in her life she calls The Year of the Buttered Cat. That year, on the verge of shutting out the rest of the world, Lexi began a gutsy and solitary quest to find her "missing" body… and she learns new ways to reach out to the world to save her friendships and uncover the startling truth about what happened to her as a baby.
In the spirit of Wonder by R.J. Palacio and Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, here is a riveting story that offers empowering messages of friendship, family, and the art of redefining ourselves.
JAMAR NICHOLAS
JAMAR NICHOLAS
Jamar Nicholas is an award-winning, Philadelphia-based artist and educator, dedicating his career to helping young people realize the power of visual narrative. Jamar aims to promote anti-bullying, healing, and kindness in his work.
Jamar's current project, partnering with Scholastic Graphix, "Leon the Extraordinary", is the first book in his series featuring Leon and his friends, Carlos and Clementine.
LEON: Worst Friends Forever
LEON: Worst Friends Forever
LEON The Extraordinary
LEON The Extraordinary
Leon struggles with a super ego -- and a super secret! -- in the second graphic novel in Jamar Nicholas's action-packed, heartfelt, and joyously funny series.
After saving his classmates from The Monocle, and now that he has access to tons of cool crime-fighting gadgets, Leon is the superhero his school needs. Or at least... he thinks he is. Leon's vigil-antics make Mom and Principal Principle angry, but even worse, Leon is avoiding his best friend, Carlos, to keep Mom's superhero identity a secret. Can Leon dig deep and rediscover his heart and common sense? Or will his bad behavior reach a point of no return?
Leon is an ordinary kid who becomes extraordinary when he fights a supervillain to save his school!
In the city where Leon lives, superheroes -- and supervillains -- are commonplace. So how does an ordinary kid like Leon, who has no superpowers himself, become the superhero he wants to be? When all his classmates suddenly become obsessed with a new phone app that turns them into zombies, Leon gets his chance to prove that using his brain and following his heart can save the day.
Equal parts New Kid and The Incredibles, the first graphic novel in this action-packed, heartfelt, and joyously funny series by Jamar Nicholas reminds readers that when it comes to being a hero, you just need to believe in yourself.
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