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Saturday, October 13 • 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Middle Grade: Choices and Challenges

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What was the biggest decision you faced today? Whether to skip piano lessons to come to the BBF? Whether to eat lunch at the taco truck or the dumpling truck? Or are you weighing decisions that might affect your whole life and the lives around you? Those are the kinds of choices facing characters dreamed up by the authors you’ll meet today. In Pura Belpré Award–winning author Meg Medina’s new novel, Merci Suárez Changes Gears, the title character must decide what to prioritize when school obligations, social pressures, and family responsibilities all come crashing in. In former teacher Tami Charles’s debut novel Like Vanessa, middle-schooler Vanessa Martin must choose whether to accept the status quo or sign up for a beauty pageant like her idol, Vanessa Williams. And in Kheryn Callender’s debut novel Hurricane Child, Caroline must decide whether to acknowledge her crush on another girl and seize a dangerous opportunity to find her own missing mother. Their conversation will be moderated by educator Monique Harris. The decision to include this session in your BBF day is an easy one!
Moderators
avatar for Monique Harris

Monique Harris

A transplant from San Francisco, California, Monique Harris graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1997. She earned her teaching credential in Moderate Disabilities from the University of San Francisco in 2003. A special... Read More →

Presenters
avatar for Kheryn Callender

Kheryn Callender

Kheryn Callender is an author and editor who is dedicated to promoting diversity in literature for young readers. They are an associate editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Their debut novel is Hurricane Child, a middle-grade book about Caroline Murphy, whose life is terminally... Read More →
avatar for Tami Charles

Tami Charles

When Tami Charles was a teacher, she noticed that, although there was more diversity in children’s books than when she was young, there still just wasn’t enough. So she decided to write some books of her own. Her debut middle grade novel, Like Vanessa, is about thirteen-year-old... Read More →
avatar for Meg Medina

Meg Medina

Meg Medina is an award-winning author of work for young readers. She writes for young adult, middle grade, and young children. In 2016, her young adult novel, Burn Baby Burn, was longlisted for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize. The same year, her picture... Read More →

Saturday October 13, 2018 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
BPL Teen Central 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA, USA
  Kids

Attendees (49)