Bookable Authors: Upper Grades (8 12) Social Studies
Talia Aikens-Nuñez
Talia Aikens-Nuñez is passionate about sharing with young readers the little known stories, accomplishments, and contributions of people of color from all throughout history. Aikens-Nuñez is the author of Small Nap, Little Dream, a bilingual Spanish/English picture book. She and her… View →
Kathy Belge
Kathy Belge has been a freelance writer since 2003 specializing in the LGBT community. She co-authored the book Lipstick and Dipstick’s Essential Guide to Lesbian Relationships and wrote the monthly advice column Lipstick & Dipstick for Curve magazine… View →
Cynthia Overbeck Bix
Cynthia Bix grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where family visits to historical sites that dot the East Coast—including Old Sturbridge Village, Colonial Williamsburg, and Baltimore’s own Fort McHenry—sparked her early interest in American history, crafts, and everyday life. After… View →
Halley Bondy
Halley Bondy is a professional freelance writer, journalist, editor, producer, and mom based in Brooklyn. Her articles have appeared in NBC News, The Balance, Contently, Digital Trends, Bustle, Romper, The Outline, MTV, and more. She… View →
Linda Crotta Brennan
Linda Crotta Brennan is the award-winning author of more than twenty books for children including Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Presidency, When Rivers Burned: The Earth Day Story, and The Black Regiment of the American Revolution. For many years, Ms. Brennan taught and worked in… View →
Kari Cornell
Kari Cornell is a freelance writer and editor who lives in South Minneapolis with her husband and two young boys. When she’s not working or spending time with her family, she loves to cook, tinker in the garden, knit, or run. She feels fortunate that she’s been able to… View →
Caitlin Donohue
Caitlin Donohue is a Bay Area-raised, Mexico City-based freelance culture writer. Her work examines the relationship between the United States and Latin America via music, marijuana politics, nightlife, and more. View →
Laura B. Edge
Laura B. Edge was born just north of Chicago in Waukegan, Illinois. She grew up in a big Italian-Irish family with lots of brothers and sisters. She loves to read, travel, dance, ride horses, and watch basketball games. Laura received her bachelor’s degree in education from the… View →
Jeff Fleischer
Jeff Fleischer is a Chicago-based author, editor, and journalist. He is the author of A Hot Mess: How the Climate Crisis is Changing Our World (Zest Books, 2021), Votes of Confidence: A Young Person’s Guide to American Elections (Zest Books, 2020 and 2016), Rockin’ the Boat:… View →
Jesse Freidin
Jesse Freidin is a fine-art dog photographer whose dog portraits are in private collections throughout the United States and have been exhibited in galleries from coast to coast. He’s based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. View →
Christina Garofalo
Christina Garofalo is an L.A.-based TV writer and journalist. She’s covered travel, food, and culture for more than a dozen publications, including Afar, Huffington Post, Jetsetter, Paste, Resident, Robb Report, and ShermansTravel. Previously, she’s served as an editor for… View →
Krystyna Poray Goddu
Krystyna Poray Goddu has been a writer and editor for more than thirty years; her books include Dollmakers and Their Stories: Women Who Changed the World of Play, and A Girl Called Vincent: A Biography of Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, both middle-grade nonfiction. Her writing for… View →
Connie Goldsmith
Connie Goldsmith is a registered nurse with a bachelor of science degree in nursing and a master of public administration degree in health care. She has written numerous books for YA readers and nearly two hundred magazine articles. Her recent books include Kiyo Sato: From a View →
John Grant
John Grant is author of about seventy books, including the highly successful Discarded Science, Corrupted Science, and Denying Science. He has received two Hugo Awards, the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a number of other international literary awards. View →
Sue Heavenrich
Sue Heavenrich writes about science and environmental issues and is passionate about insects. She has followed ants in the Arizona desert, tagged bumblebees in the Rocky Mountains, and tallied insects on Cocos Island, Costa Rica. When not writing, she collects data for researchers as a… View →
Charles C. Hofer
Charles C. Hofer is a wildlife biologist, photographer, and writer living in Tucson, Arizona, home to many, many venomous snakes. Hofer has been a regular contributor to several award-winning magazines, where he often writes about science and nature for young minds. This is his first… View →
Patrick Jones
Patrick Jones lives in Minneapolis and is the author of many novels including the Support and Defend series. A former librarian, Jones received lifetime achievement awards from the American Library Association and the Catholic Library Association. View →
Leslie Josel
Leslie Josel is an award-winning academic/life coach for teens and college students, who founded Order Out of Chaos to help students learn the skills they need to succeed in learning and in life. She is also an award-winning author, creator of an academic planner that helps students… View →
Arie Kaplan
Arie Kaplan has written jokes and comedy sketches for the television series TruTV Presents: World’s Dumbest…. He has also written humor articles for MAD Magazine. Aside from his work as a comedy writer, Arie has written numerous nonfiction books for young… View →
Amber J. Keyser
Evolutionary biologist-turned-author Amber J. Keyser has a MS in zoology and a PhD in genetics. She writes both fiction and non-fiction for tweens and teens. Her young adult novels include Pointe, Claw (Carolrhoda Lab, 2017), an explosive story about two girls claiming the territory of… View →