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Featured Authors & Books

Authors and books featured by Project C.A.R.E.S. to inspire K-12 learners

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September 2020 — Featured Author of the Month

Rita Williams-Garcia

b. April 13, 1957 — Queens, NY

Rita Williams-Garcia author photo
Rita Williams-Garcia
Rita Williams-Garcia

Rita Williams-Garcia is an award-winning author whose books speak directly to the experiences of African American young people. She holds a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University and studied creative writing at Queens College. A student of Alvin Ailey and Phil Black, she brings a dancer's sense of rhythm and movement to her prose.

She is a member of the Authors Guild and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Her characters, she says, are intentionally different from her own experiences: “I probably will never ever write about myself.”

Young Adult Novels

  • Blue Tights (1988)
  • Fast Talk on a Slow Track (1991)
  • Like Sisters on the Homefront (1995)
  • Every Time a Rainbow Dies (2001)
  • No Laughter Here (2004)
  • Jumped (2009)

Gaither Sisters Series

  • One Crazy Summer (2010)
  • P.S. Be Eleven (2013)
  • Gone Crazy in Alabama (2015)
  • Bottle Cap Boys Dancing On Royal Street (2015)
Rita Williams-Garcia book cover

Note: One Crazy Summer (2010) was the inspiration for Project C.A.R.E.S.'s 2020 Rally for Change event.

December 2021 — Featured Books of the Month

December 2021 Selections

Kwame Alexander author photo

Kwame Alexander

Poet, Educator, Publisher, NYT Bestselling Author

Author of 35 books and recipient of the Newbery Medal for The Crossover and Caldecott Medal recognition for The Undefeated. Alexander founded VERSIFY, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and established the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library in Ghana through LEAP for Ghana. He also co-authored Becoming Muhammad Ali with James Patterson.

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander book cover

Featured Book

The Undefeated

Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

A Caldecott Medal honored picture book that pays tribute to African Americans who persevered through struggle and shaped history.

Julia G. Chadwick author photo

Julia G. Chadwick

Local Author

Julia G. Chadwick is a local author whose children's book addresses self-acceptance and the harm of comparison. On her work she said: “Children feel crushed because they compare themselves to others.”

Buttercup: The Butterfly That Would Not Fly book cover

Featured Book

Buttercup: The Butterfly That Would Not Fly

Ages 4-6

A children's picture book about Buttercup the butterfly, who struggles with shame over his appearance until he learns to embrace who he is.

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