Jen Bryant Flying Tidings Sep 2024




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October 2025

“I want to write about ordinary things—
plums, wheelbarrows and weeds,
fire engines, children and trees—
things I see when I walk down my street
or look out my window.”

—from A River of Words, by Jen Bryant, art by Melissa Sweet, a Caldecott Honor Book

Autumn greetings and welcome to my long-overdue author newsletter! A lot has happened since my last edition, including our move to the greater Pittsburgh area. But relocation hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm for great books, dedicated teachers and librarians, and astonishing art. Here’s my news and a sneak peek at a forthcoming book.

Louis's Legacy Lives On

Penguin-RandomHouse / Knopf Books for Young Readers, Boris Kulikov and I are delighted to share that Six Dots — A Story of Young Louis Braille is a 2025 Mathical Honor Book! Do you want to help your students (or your student teachers) connect math, language, invention and creative thought? Then share this short video interview that I did with Mathical host Kirsten Bohl, in which I talk about the research, writing and inspiration for this Schneider Award Winning Title!

Countdown to Foote Was First!

Did you know that an American woman was the first person to make the connection between increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and global warming? Did you know that—even though she conducted scientific experiments proving this, and wrote down her results to share—she wasn’t allowed (because of her gender) to publicly read them? Did you know that, a few years later, a male professor in the UK claimed that he was the first to make the CO2-climate change connection?

I’m delighted to share that Amy June Bates (artist for my 2009 title ABE’s FISH) has illustrated Foote Was First! How One Curious Woman Connected Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change. Published by Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins, this picture book biography tells the riveting story of how Eunice Newton Foote, an amateur American scientist, became the first person to link an increase in carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to a warmer earth. A wife, mother, inventor and suffragette, she was the fifth signer of the Declaration of Sentiments at the First Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls.

Foote Was First! is available for Pre-order from the publisher, from Bookshop.org and from Amazon. It will be published on January 13, 2026.

Listen! Listen!

In 2019, I went to NYC to do an interview with a local CBS affiliate about my biography-in verse of Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson. Since then, I’ve received dozens of messages from teachers, students, parents and theater fans who had “heard of” August Wilson, but who never knew that he educated himself by going to the public library. Of course, there’s a LOT more to Wilson’s story, which you can learn about in the interview and by ordering the book.

Current and Past Issues

Elgin Baylor, First Pro Athlete Activist

Human history is learned through many lenses: art, science, and yes … sport. NBA Hall of Fame player Elgin Baylor was a superstar on the court at the same time that he was turned away from hotels and restaurants where his white teammates were welcomed. One night, he had enough and didn’t play. In Above the Rim — How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball, Frank Morrison and I share Baylor’s journey from DC to Idaho to Seattle to Minneapolis to Los Angeles — and the courageous emotional path he followed to changing the game he played and loved.

As always, I’m grateful that you’ve read this far! For a chance to win a signed copy of any of my published books (your choice if your name is chosen), email me your full name, mailing address and book title you’d like to win. Until next time, keep in touch on Facebook, Instagram, or email.