Amazing news this month for WHAT I CARRY! We are nominated for the 21*22 ARKANSAS TEEN BOOK AWARD! Librarians and readers choose the titles and voting is open now. Thank you, Arkansas readers and librarians, this is such an incredible honor! And this morning I learned that WHAT I CARRY is included on the Bank Street College of Education 2021 Best Children’s Books of the Year List! Bank Street is a graduate college in NYC that has been educating teachers for over 100 years. The 2021 edition includes titles chosen that were published in 2020. In choosing books for the annual list, reviewers consider literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Each book accepted for the list is read and reviewed by at least two committee members and then discussed by the committee as a whole. Thank you so much, Bank Street College of Education. I am grateful and humbled by the love WHAT I CARRY is getting, and so happy readers can find themselves in Muir, or Francine, or Kira or Sean - but hopefully not Natan. (LOLZ) Happy Autumn, everyone. Let’s read our way through the remainder of this year! XO