About

I definitely believe that reading can change us and shape us in so many ways. and through it we can be exposed to people and places and ideas that we might not otherwise come across of confront in real life. A platform about the importance of reading and having conversations across the lines of books is really important to me

-- Jacqueline Woodson, novelist, poet, and the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

About

Why did Jacqueline Woodson choose Reading = HOPE × CHANGE as her ambassador message to kids and teens?

For young people who are very stressed about the future, who have this sense of disempowerment, who don’t know what’s coming next, my big quest is for them to remain hopeful. When you come to literature, it does allow you an escape from the world if that’s what you need, but it also changes you. You’re different than when you started that book.

The Reading = HOPE × CHANGE movement was created to engage kids and adults in conversations about books they love, encourage them to discover new books, and to answer the question, What’s Your Equation?

Join in the conversation today with activity kits for kids ages 4 to 18. Kits include a recommended reading list created by Jacqueline Woodson, games, an “Equation Creator,” and more!

You can also discover more resources, event ideas, social media information, and how to register a school, library, bookstore, or other group as a Reading = HOPE × CHANGE participating location.

Discover more about the National Ambassador program.

About Jacqueline Woodson
Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She received the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award, and is the 2014 National Book Award Winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award and a Sibert Honor. In 2015, Woodson was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. Her recent adult book, Another Brooklyn, was a National Book Award finalist. She is the author of more than two dozen award-winning books for youngadults, middle graders and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include The Other Side, Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle’s Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and the winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.