“I wanted my kids to stay healthy, so I had to give them accurate information,” said Robie H. Harris (1940–2024), whose training and deep interest in child development—and experience as a parent—made her realize how difficult but necessary it is to answer kids’ questions about sex. Consultations with other parents, kids, educators, doctors, psychologists, and scientists confirmed the critical need for books like It’s Perfectly Normal, It’s So Amazing!, and It’s Not The Stork!, all illustrated by Michael Emberley. Used as trusted resources around the world, these definitive books—known collectively as The Family Library—answer kids’ questions about sex and sexual health in a manner that assures even the most squeamish reader that “it’s perfectly normal.”
Robie H. Harris used her expertise in child development in numerous picture books as well. About Happy Birth Day!, illustrated by Michael Emberley, she said, “This is a story my children asked me to tell them over and over again when they were young. I think they loved hearing about all the things they could do on the day they were born.” Hi New Baby!, also illustrated by Michael Emberley, was another book inspired by her own children. “When my older child met his new baby brother, he was full of feelings—excitement and disappointment when he finally saw the baby, surprise that the new baby was so tiny, upset when the baby cried, bored when the baby slept, angry that he was no longer the baby, and proud when he realized that he could make the baby stop crying.”
Robie H. Harris tackled a common bugaboo faced by parents and children in Don’t Forget to Come Back!, illustrated by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss. The all-too-familiar tale wisely and wittily captures the many emotions children face when parents go out—and a babysitter comes in.
In more recent years, Robie H. Harris authored a series of books known as the Let’s Talk About You and Me series, providing easy-to-understand facts and answers to kids’ delightful, thoughtful, and often nonstop questions. Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott, these include Who Has What? All About Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies; Who’s in My Family? All About Our Families; and What’s in There? All About Before You Were Born.
In addition to being an award-winning author, Robie H. Harris was a popular speaker around the country. A graduate of Wheaton College and the Bank Street College of Education, Robie H. Harris had plenty of hands-on experience working with kids, including as director of an early childhood after-school program and as a teacher. She also co-produced and directed Child’s Eye View, a film on the daily life of children in Hell’s Kitchen, and had professional affiliations too numerous to count.
I was lucky. When I was a kid my family introduced me to art, theater, and books. Dinner talk often centered around the idea of social justice for all. I listened—and wanted to know more. My dream, though, was to become a ballerina or a stage actress. After high school I moved to New York, where I majored in theater at New York University. Becoming a character in a play was so much fun. It was not that I didn’t like being me, I was simply curious to know what it was like to be someone else. Then my uncle bought a Leica camera, and my life changed. Together we began exploring the world through the lens of his camera. Somehow the combination of theater arts and photography helped me develop into a nonfiction author. Go figure.
Beyond Magenta brings together so many things that are deep inside my bones: social justice, photography, and interpreting the lives of diverse human beings. I’ve learned so much from the wonderful teens in my book. With their help, I continue to grow.
Meg Medina is a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and the author of the Newbery Medal winner and Kirkus Prize finalist Merci Suárez Changes Gears, as well as its sequels, Merci Suárez Can’t Dance and Merci Suárez Plays It Cool. She is the author of the young adult novels Burn Baby Burn, which was long-listed for the National Book Award, short-listed for the Kirkus Prize, and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, winner of a Pura Belpré Author Award; and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. Her picture books include No More Señora Mimí, illustrated by Brittney Cicchese; Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez; Mango, Abuela, and Me, illustrated by Angela Dominguez, which was both a Pura Belpré Author and Illustrator Award Honor Book; and Tía Isa Wants a Car, illustrated by Claudio Muñoz, which won the Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Meg Medina lives in Richmond, Virginia.
Meg Medina’s work examines how cultures and identity intersect through the eyes of young people, and she brings audiences stories that speak to both what is culturally specific and what is universal. Her favorite protagonists are strong girls.
When she is not writing, Meg Medina works on community projects that support girls, Latino youth, and literacy. She lives with her family in Richmond, Virginia.
Lesléa Newman is the author of more than sixty books for children and adults, including the 2013 Stonewall Honor Book October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard.
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and on Long Island, and I have been writing poems and stories ever since I can remember. The first thing I ever published was a poem I wrote when I was a teenager, which appeared in Seventeen magazine. I studied poetics at a school in Boulder, Colorado, called Naropa Institute (now Naropa University), and where I worked with Allen Ginsberg, one of my heroes. I now live in Massachusetts with my spouse, Mary Vazquez, and our cat Princess Sheba Darling (who is very spoiled). When I am not writing, I am wishing I was writing! I also read a lot, do crossword puzzles, go to movies and plays, weed the garden, and play with the cat (when she’ll let me). In addition to writing, I travel around the country, visiting high schools, colleges, libraries, and other community settings to speak out against anti-gay bullying.
I have published more than sixty books for readers of all ages on all types of subjects. Often I’m asked which of my books is my favorite. I always answer, “The one I haven’t written yet!” My poetry collection, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard, is a book that’s very dear to my heart and very important to me. If reading this book stops even one kid from bullying another, I will feel like I have done my job. I wrote the book by writing a poem a day for more than two months, and then going back over them to revise, revise, revise. I also did a lot of research: I read books, looked at videos, talked to people, studied the Matthew Shepard archives at the University of Wyoming, and visited the site where the hate crime that killed Matt took place.
Three Things You Might Not Know About Me:
1. I have a green belt in karate (Shuri-Ryu style).
2. I can turn a canoe on a dime (using a J-stroke or C-stroke).
3. I was once a clue in a New York Times crossword puzzle.
