Elissa Brent Weissman

Imani is adopted, and she's ready to search for her birth parents. But when she discovers the diary her Jewish great-grandmother wrote chronicling her escape from Holocaust-era Europe, Imani begins to see family in a new way. Imani knows exactly what she wants as her big bat mitzvah gift: to find her birth parents. She loves her family and her Jewish community in Baltimore, but she has always wondered where she came from, especially since she's black and almost everyone she knows is white. Then her mom's grandmother--Imani's great-grandma Anna--passes away, and Imani discovers an old journal among her books. It's Anna's diary from 1941, the year she was twelve and fled Nazi-occupied Luxembourg alone, sent by her parents to seek refuge in Brooklyn, New York. Anna's diary records her journey to America and her new life with an adoptive family of her own. And as Imani reads the diary, she begins to see her family, and her place in it, in a whole new way.

The Length of a String

For ten-year-old Gabe, the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment is all that he dreamed it would be, but he must work hard to write about the fun in letters to Zack, his cool future stepbrother, without revealing that it is a camp for "nerds."

Nerd Camp

Sixth-graders Ashley and her best friend Maya were banished from the live "News at Nine" broadcast at John Dos Passos Elementary in Baltimore after an embarrassing incident in the previous year; at loose ends the pair, together with their classmate Brielle, decide to become investigative reporters with their own online broadcast: "The Underground News"--and soon they stumble upon a major story about an educational software company that is illegally tracking and selling student data.

The Renegade Reporters

Marla Frazee

Gordon Korman

Kwame Alexander

Tom Angleberger

Grace Lin

Brian Selznick

Rita Williams-Garcia

Alex Gino

Gail Carson Levine

Candace Fleming

Linda Sue Park

Thanhha Lai

R. J. Palacio

Chris Grabenstein

Peter Lerangis

Kathi Appelt

Dan Santat

Chris Gall

Tim Federle

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Ashley Bryan

Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Yuyi Morales

Rohmann, Eric

From award-winning author Elissa Brent Weissman comes a collection of quirky, smart, and vulnerable childhood works by some of today’s foremost children’s authors and illustrators—revealing young talent, the storytellers they would one day become, and the creativity they inspire today. Everyone’s story begins somewhere… For Linda Sue Park, it was a trip to the ocean, a brand-new typewriter, and a little creative license. For Jarrett J. Krosoczka, it was a third grade writing assignment that ignited a creative fire in a kid who liked to draw. For Kwame Alexander, it was a loving poem composed for Mother’s Day—and perfected through draft after discarded draft. For others, it was a teacher, a parent, a beloved book, a word of encouragement. It was trying, and failing, and trying again. It was a love of words, and pictures, and stories. Your story is beginning, too. Where will it go?

Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring, and Occasionally Ridiculous Things They Wrote and Drew as Kids

Our Story Begins

While seventh-grader Lindy Sachs is recovering from mononucleosis, her father gives her access to his etrading account as a way to pass the time and she discovers that she has a knack for buying and selling stocks.

The Short Seller

Looking forward to returning to his beloved summer enrichment camp, Gabe is horrified by a wildfire that causes his super-cool stepbrother's camp of equally cool campers to join Nerd Camp, prompting a clash between the two groups. By the author of Standing for Socks.

Nerd Camp 2.0

Jessica Sonkin

At the end of fifth grade, Fara decides to wear mismatched socks as a statement of individuality, but once middle school starts and she wants to be known for her ideas rather than her clothing, she feels burdened by an image that she no longer wants.

Standing for Socks

The award-winning NERD CAMP series continues! Nikhil's mischievous little sister causes trouble at the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment retreat.

Nikhil and the Geek Retreat (Nerd Camp Briefs #1)

When two eleven-year-olds with the same name, similar looks, and very different personalities go to the same Maryland middle school, confusion and bad feelings ensue, but things improve after a teacher insists that they become study partners.

The Trouble with Mark Hopper

When Fara Ross puts on mismatched socks accidentally one morning, little does she know that it will ignite her political career. What begins as a wardrobe malfunction grows into an expression of freedom in footwear, and that can only lead to bigger things -- like the race for sixth-grade student council president. Fara knows she is perfect for the job. But as the election nears, she realizes that everyone, from her friends on her campaign team to her entire town, is paying more attention to her socks than to the issues that she stands for. All Fara wants is to serve the community. Does she have the creativity and the passion that it takes to help people see beyond her feet? Even at the cost of her friendships? Who knew that socks could spark such a revolution -- and so many problems?!

When Ash gets kicked off her school's news show, she becomes a renegade reporter--and makes a big discovery about technology and her fellow students' privacy. Ash and her friends are reporters. They were ready to lead their school news show, The News at Nine, sponsored by Van Ness Media, when an unfortunate incident involving a dancing teacher, an irresponsibly reported story, and a viral video got them kicked off the crew. So Ash, Maya, and Brielle decide to start their own news show, The Underground News. And soon they stumble on a big lead: Van Ness Media, the educational company that provides their school's software, has been gathering data from all the kids at school. Their drawings, their journals, even their movements are being recorded and cataloged by Van Ness Media. But why? Ash and her friends are determined to learn the truth and report it.

Elissa Brent Weissman

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