Can You Help?

At the beginning of April, I visited three schools in Mena, Arkansas. Nine days later, a tornado ripped through the town. The middle school I had visited was completely leveled. Most of the library collection survived, but the classroom books were lost. Can you help rebuild the classroom library collections for this middle school? Click here to find out what you can do. Thank you so much!

Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel

by Nikki Grimes
illustrated by Gregory Christie

Make way for Dyamonde Daniel! And Free, and Tylisha, and all the other characters in my brand new chapter book series. Book Two, Rich: A Dyamonde Daniel Book, will come out in October. The series will revolve around guess who? Dyamonde Daniel.

Who is Dyamonde Daniel? She's a firecracker, of course. Super smart, super confident, and learning lots about what it takes to be a good friend. And she loves math. Imagine! It was my least favorite subject in school, but then, I didn't have Dyamonde Daniel to teach me how numbers help her make sense of the world. To be sure, Dyamonde is 1 character you'll want 2 meet!

I'm so excited about the great reviews this book has been garnering. Check them out!

Looking for Books for Your School?

Thanks to my Facebook buddy, Sharon Flake, I learned about a great resource. Need books for your school and can't afford them? Try www.DonorsChoose.org

Can You Haiku?

That's the question I'm asking. If you visit me at my Facebook Fan Club (if you're not already a member, maybe it's time to join!), you can participate in a haiku writing contest each month. Just go to the discussion box and click on the word Contest to find the subject of the month. Leave your haiku there, and if yours is the best of the month, you'll receive a free, autographed book. The winner will be announced the first week of the following month. Want to play? If so, I'll see you at my Facebook Fan Club.

BARACK OBAMA

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope won the NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work - Children! I am so thrilled at this honor! Read all about my experience at the awards ceremony in last month's Notes from Nikki. (And check me out on the red carpet here!)

This book is now the biography of the President. How cool is that? And I got to be in D.C. for the inauguration! Check out a few photos on my Picture Gallery page.

It spent 20 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List (five of them at #1). In addition to winning the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Children's category, it's also now available in recorded format (read by me). Check out This Just In! for more information.

To say that I'm pleased is an understatement! Thanks to Bryan Collier and Simon & Schuster for creating this book with such skill and devotion. However, no thanks go out to conservative commentators who have completely twisted my admiration for President Obama into something else. I respond to them here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

I'm excited about every book I do, but this one was especially intriguing. The publisher asked me to write about Mr. Obama, and the illustrator, Bryan Collier, and I didn't have much time to get it ready. In fact, I had just about three weeks.

Want to hear a miracle? I researched and wrote it in two! God answers prayer, I'm just saying. Then Bryan worked his magic with the illustrations. Read more...

Other Good News

When Gorilla Goes Walking was recently named to the 2009 California Readers Collection. More good News ...

Don't miss my monthly journal, updated on the first of each month.

Did you know that I have teaching guides available for all of my books? You'll find them useful for homeschooling projects as well as classroom use. Go ahead and send me a photo of a display you've created for one or more of my books ... we may feature it on the website.

Something New

You guys know I do art, right? The company that carries my handmade cards and books, knitwear and occasional jewelry is Artistic License. You can visit them at ArtisticLicenseFair.com. They rep an incredible array of fine artists and craftspeople. Check them out!

Our White House

What better time to promote a book about the White House? I'm on the Board of the National Children's Book and Literary Alliance, and I'm proud to recommend Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. Published by Candlewick Press in September, this beautiful volume was eight years in the making. It's a collection of essays, personal accounts, historical fiction, and poetry, along with a stunning variety of original art. I hope you'll check it out and share it with the young people in your life!