1/4 As a high school kid I had no @JasonReynolds83 @angiecthomas @halseanderson @AcevedoWrites @getnicced @WriteinBK @JerryCraft and if there were authors who did exist like them my teachers obviously sucked because I knew nothing about them. Instead my friends and I read

2/4 The Coldest Winter Ever, Flyy Girl, G-Spot, Addicted, The Dopemans Wife, any Eric Jerome Dickey book our mamas had and many other way to grown books. We just wanted books we could relate to. Books representative of the lives we knew about. Books that we could see ourselves

3/4 in. If we had today's authors we would have gladly read them and our book hearts would have been happy. We would have circled around to discuss their characters. As a reading teacher I prioritize my kids knowing what is out there. They deserve to see themselves. They

4/4 deserve relatable experiences. They deserve to see they are not the only children living, struggling, thriving in this crazy ass world. I'll make sure they know it. Thanks again to the amazing YA authors out there for creating mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors