Author Ellen Oh

I have been tweeting about Flying Lessons & Other Stories for months. It FINALLY hit stores and libraries on Tuesday. I hope you will visit your local bookshop and buy two copies after you read my interview with Ellen Oh, the editor of this important anthology. 

I wrote the words in purple, and Ellen wrote the words in black. Thank you, Ellen! 

Kwame Alexander, Kelly J. Baptist, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter Dean Myers, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson are my idols. Their stories made me laugh, cry and make my heart feel too big for my chest. They helped create this marvelous anthology that is filled with something for everyone.

Flying Lessons & Other Stories is dedicated to the life and legacy of Walter Dean Myers and to every kid who ever thought they didn’t belong. 

We Need Diverse Books™ is…

…a group of amazing volunteers who love children’s literature and believe that every child deserves to see themselves represented in the books they read.

…a group of the hardest working people with hearts of pure gold and generosity that amazes me every single day I work with them.

…a group of friends that have become family and a mission that so many people believe in and support in so many different ways and for which I will be forever grateful.

Harper Raine is one seriously badass ghost hunter.

School libraries are lifesavers.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me why I hate illustrators. Well actually, I don’t hate them. I am literally overwhelmed by envy over their talent. I think it is terribly unfair that I can’t even draw a stick figure. I once had to sign next to Emma Virjan who illustrates those awesome pigs in a wig. And she would draw these adorable pigs in wigs with her signature and I felt challenged to be artistic so I started adding happy faces to my signature but stopped after people asked me if the squiggles were a foreign language. 

Borrow Flying Lessons & Other Stories from your school or public library. Whenever possible, please support independent bookshops.