National Book Award winner & New York Times Bestseller Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpr Illustrator Award winner Rafael Lpez have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone.

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

There will be times when you walk into a room
and no one there is quite like you.

There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it’s how you look or talk, or where you’re from; maybe it’s what you eat, or something just as random. It’s not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it.

Jacqueline Woodson’s lyrical text and Rafael Lpez’s dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.

Jacqueline Woodson(www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for herNew York Timesbestselling memoirBrown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult booksRed at the Bone, aNew York Timesbestseller, andAnother Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award winnerBefore the Ever After; New York TimesbestsellersThe Day You BeginandHarbor Me;The Other Side,Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor bookComing On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winnersFeathers,Show Way, andAfter Tupac and D Foster; andMiracle’s Boys, which received theLA TimesBook Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.

Rafael Lpezwon Pura Belpr medals forDrum Dream GirlandBook Fiesta, and has also received three Pura Belpr honors, two Amricas Book Awards, and the 2017 Toms Rivera Children’s Book Award and Society of Illustrators Original Art Silver Medal. His work has been featured inCommunication Arts,American Illustration Annual,Graphic Design USAandHuffington Post. He’s a founder of San Diego’s Urban Art Trail movement, created seven US Postal Stamps, and created official posters for the ’08 and ’12 Obama-Biden campaigns.

• Age Range: 5 – 8 years
• Grade Level: Kindergarten – 3
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books (August 28, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399246533
• ISBN-13: 9780399246531
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 0.4 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces