About the Author

Author of the middle grade books: KEEP IT TOGETHER KEIKO CARTER and JUST BE COOL, JENNA SAKAI, SWEET AND SOUR, and the upcoming THIS IS HOW I ROLL (January 2023/Scholastic) . KEEP IT TOGETHER KEIKO CARTER is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, a New England Book Award finalist, and a Project LIT 2020-21 Book Club selection. Kirkus Reviews gave JUST BE COOL JENNA SAKAI (an Amazon Editor's Choice Pick) a starred review and says it is "...complex as is delightful. "Also the author of the chapter book series Jasmine Toguchi about a spunky Japanese American 8yo girl. Four new Jasmine Toguchi books coming in '22 - '23! First up, BRAVE EXPLORER (10/18/22) ! Available now: Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen; Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth; Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl; and Jasmine Toguchi, Flamingo Keeper (FSG/207 and 2018) . Jasmine Toguchi Mochi Queen was a Junior Library Guild selection, Amazon's Best Children's Books of 2017, a Bank Street 2018 Best Children's Books of the Year, on the 2018 Amelia Bloomer List, and on The Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) 2018 Choices List (Best of the Year) . Jasmine Toguchi Drummer Girl is a 2019 Cybils Award winner, a Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award winner, a Junior Library Guild selection, on the CCBC 2019 Choices List, and on the Chicago Public Library's Best Of list. Co-wrote the picture book biography NIKI NAKAYAMA: A CHEF'S TALE IN 13 BITES with Jamie Michalak, art by Yuko Jones. This book received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly and Booklist. A third generation Japanese American, a native Californian, and former classroom teacher and zoo educator. For more information, please see author's website.

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