Authors Similar like Maya Van Wagenen

Bryan Bliss

Bryan Bliss is the author of No Parking at the End Times, Meet Me Here, and We’ll Fly Away, which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award. He lives in Saint Paul, MN with his family.

You can visit him online at www.bryanbliss.com and on Facebook and Twitter.

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Meredith Adamo

Meredith Adamo (she/her) is an author based in North Carolina, but she's originally from Rochester, New York, which is her favorite place on the planet. Her debut novel NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS was the recipient of the 2025 William C. Morris YA Debut Award and the Southern Book Prize for Young Readers, and it was named a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, a BookPage Best Young Adult Book of 2024, a May/June Kids' Indie Next List pick, and the May 2024 Target YA Book Club pick.

Her non-writing interests include collecting vintage bakeware, crocheting the ugliest blankets you've ever seen, and grocery shopping.

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Melanie Sumrow

MELANIE SUMROW is the award-winning author of Girls Like Her, The Inside Battle, and The Prophet Calls. Before turning her attention to writing, she worked as a lawyer for more than sixteen years, many of her cases involving children and teens. She received her MFA in Writing from Hamline University and lives in Dallas. You can visit her online at melaniesumrow.com.

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Emily Ladau

Emily Ladau is an internationally known disability rights activist, speaker, and author of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally. She is the editor in chief of the Rooted in Rights blog, a platform dedicated to amplifying authentic narratives of the intersectional disability experience. She also co-hosts The Accessible Stall, a podcast about disability issues. Ladau’s writing has been published in outlets including the New York Times, HuffPost, CNN, Self, Salon, Vice, The Daily Beast, Variety, and Marie Claire Australia. Her work is also included in the Criptiques Anthology and About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of the New York Times. She has served as an expert source on disability issues for ou

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Paula Yoo

Paula Yoo is an acclaimed book author, TV writer/producer, and musician. Her children’s and Young Adult nonfiction books and novels have won many awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature, ALA-YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Honor, Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, the Asian Pacific American Youth Literature Award, several IRA Notables and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections, plus many starred reviews.

Her latest YA nonfiction book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE, was published on May 7, 2024 by Norton Young Readers (W.W. Norton & Co.). It was selected as a Junior Library Guil

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Anna Sortino

Anna Sortino is the award-winning author of On the Bright Side and Give Me a Sign. She writes stories about disabled characters living their lives and falling in love. Find more at AnnaSortino.com.

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Isaac Blum

Isaac Blum (he/him) is a writer and educator. He’s taught English at several colleges and universities, and at Orthodox Jewish and public schools. He lives with his wife in Philadelphia where he watches sports and reads books that make him laugh while showing him something true about the world. The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is his debut novel. You can visit Isaac online at isaacblumauthor.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @isaacblum_

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Meredith Adamo

Meredith Adamo (she/her) is an author based in North Carolina, but she's originally from Rochester, New York, which is her favorite place on the planet. Her debut novel NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS was the recipient of the 2025 William C. Morris YA Debut Award and the Southern Book Prize for Young Readers, and it was named a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, a BookPage Best Young Adult Book of 2024, a May/June Kids' Indie Next List pick, and the May 2024 Target YA Book Club pick.

Her non-writing interests include collecting vintage bakeware, crocheting the ugliest blankets you've ever seen, and grocery shopping.

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Carolina Ixta

Carolina Ixta is a writer from Oakland, California. A daughter of Mexican immigrants, she received her B.A. in Creative Writing and Spanish Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and obtained her Master's degree in Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently an elementary school teacher whose pedagogy centers critical race theory at the primary education level. Shut Up, This is Serious is her debut novel.

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Claire Forrest

Claire Forrest is a novelist and essayist who holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. Where You See Yourself is based on her lived experience as a wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy. As an undergraduate at Grinnell College, she was a consultant for the Disability Services and Admissions offices, working directly to address the concerns of incoming college students with disabilities and their families.

She lives in Minneapolis, where when she’s not writing, she spends her time swimming and planning where to travel next. Find out more about her on Instagram and Twitter at @claire4est.

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Carolina Ixta

Carolina Ixta is a writer from Oakland, California. A daughter of Mexican immigrants, she received her B.A. in Creative Writing and Spanish Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and obtained her Master's degree in Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently an elementary school teacher whose pedagogy centers critical race theory at the primary education level. Shut Up, This is Serious is her debut novel.

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Mariko Turk

Mariko Turk grew up in Pennsylvania and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in creative writing. She received her PhD from the University of Florida with a concentration in children's literature. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Colorado, where she enjoys tea, walks, and stories of all kinds. She is the author of The Other Side of Perfect (a 2022 YALSA best YA fiction pick) and I'll Be Waiting for You (coming April 30, 2024).

For updates, follow her on Instagram @marikoturk or sign up for her monthly newsletter here! https://www.marikoturk.com/

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A.R. Vishny

A. R. Vishny was born and raised in Massachusetts but now calls New York City home. Her essays on Jewish representation in pop culture have appeared in Teen Vogue, the Washington Post, and Hey Alma. She earned a BA in English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a JD at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was a Law and Literature fellow. When she’s not writing, she’s at the theater or else hunting for the perfect slice of cheesecake.

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Chaz Hayden

Chaz Hayden is the author of the YA novel The First Thing About You. Through his writing and his YouTube channel, he speaks with abundant positivity and encourages people to “Be different. Leave a trail.” He grew up in New Jersey and now lives in Pennsylvania, where he highlights accessibility in his community and spends too much time thinking about his next tattoo and what concerts to attend. Chaz Hayden is also a director at Ballers & Bookworms, a nonprofit that supports underserved student-athletes. Follow him on social media @TheChazHayden.

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Sally Swift

At seven years old, a scoliosis appeared which became part of her daily life and was later instrumental in her development of Centered Riding. After the diagnosis and well into her twenties, she worked with Mabel Ellsworth Todd, author of The Thinking Body. Mable Todd was Sally’s first teacher in “body awareness” and encouraged Sally to explore her new “awareness”. This early training was enhanced when Sally began, and continued, to study the Alexander Technique™ and applied it to riding. Sally’s work with the Alexander Technique™ enabled her to discard the back brace she had worn for many years. The Alexander Technique™ is a method of re-educating the mind and body towards greater balance and integration with special reference to posture a

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Randy Ribay

Randy Ribay is an award-winning author of young adult fiction. His most recent novel, Patron Saints of Nothing, earned five starred reviews, was selected as a Freeman Book Award winner, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, LA Times Book Prize, Walden Book Award, Edgar Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His other works include Project Kawayan, After the Shot Drops, and An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes. His next novels, The Chronicles of the Avatar: The Reckoning of Roku (Abrams) and Everything We Never Had, (Kokila/Penguin) will be out in 2024.

Born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest, Randy earned his BA in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and h

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Candy J. Cooper

Candy J. Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting. She has been a staff writer for four newspapers, including the The Detroit Free Press and the San Francisco Examiner. Her work has appeared in the The New York Times, The Columbia Journalism Review and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among other publications. She has written several nonfiction series books for the classroom for Scholastic, and her essay on stepfamilies is part of an anthology, My Father Married Your Mother: Dispatches from the Blended Family, published by W. W. Norton.

(source: Amazon)

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Anna Sortino

Anna Sortino is the award-winning author of On the Bright Side and Give Me a Sign. She writes stories about disabled characters living their lives and falling in love. Find more at AnnaSortino.com.

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A.R. Vishny

A. R. Vishny was born and raised in Massachusetts but now calls New York City home. Her essays on Jewish representation in pop culture have appeared in Teen Vogue, the Washington Post, and Hey Alma. She earned a BA in English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a JD at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was a Law and Literature fellow. When she’s not writing, she’s at the theater or else hunting for the perfect slice of cheesecake.

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Carolina Ixta

Carolina Ixta is a writer from Oakland, California. A daughter of Mexican immigrants, she received her B.A. in Creative Writing and Spanish Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and obtained her Master's degree in Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently an elementary school teacher whose pedagogy centers critical race theory at the primary education level. Shut Up, This is Serious is her debut novel.

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Josh Galarza

Josh Galarza writes fiction and creative nonfiction and is a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking, book arts, and sculpture. His debut novel, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky, was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University, a BFA in art from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a BA in English from the University of Nevada, Reno. He lives in Northern Nevada and is the three-time reigning world champion of extreme trampoline air-drumming, a sport he invented himself.

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Sarah Kurpiel

Sarah Kurpiel is a librarian and picture book author/illustrator from the Midwest. Her stories are inspired by animals, nature, and everyday life. Instagram: @sarah.kurpiel

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Andrea L. Rogers

Andrea L. Rogers is a writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She graduated from the Institute of American Indian and Alaskan Arts with an MFA in Creative Writing. Currently, she is splitting time between Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she is a Ph.d. student at the University Arkansas and Fort Worth, Texas, where her family lives. Her book Mary and the Trail of Tears: A Cherokee Removal Survival Story was named an NPR Best Book of 202) by both NPR and American Indians in Children’s Literature.
Ms. Rogers is on the Board of the Fort Worth Public Library.

A member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, she is currently revising a middle grade mystery, writing an adult literary horror nov

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Karla Arenas Valenti

Karla Arenas Valenti is the Pura Belpré award winning author of best selling middle grade novels, chapter books, and picture books.

Her books are on various state reading lists and have received multiple starred reviews, as well as being being featured on NPR’s Sunday Edition, the Drew Barrymore Show, and several Best of the Year lists, including Kirkus Best Book of the Year, Banks Street Best Children’s Book, School Library Journal’s Best Books, Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year, Evanston Public Library Best Book of the Year, PEOPLE’s pick for best children’s book, and Best Books for kids by Entertainment Weekly.

Karla grew up in Mexico City, in a house built around a tree. Her childhood was filled with fantastical elements, whic

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John Schu

John Schu is the creator of the popular blog Mr. Schu Reads (mrschureads.blogspot.com), was the Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic Book Fairs, a part-time lecturer at Rutgers University, and a former classroom teacher and school librarian. He has visited schools all over the world and has met with over 130,000 students, teachers, and administrators as he advocates for the people and things he cares about most: kids, books, schools, and the libraries — and librarians — that connect them. This Is a School is his picture book debut. John Schu lives in Naperville, Illinois. You can find him at JohnSchu.com and on social media at @MrSchuReads.

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Melanie Sumrow

MELANIE SUMROW is the award-winning author of Girls Like Her, The Inside Battle, and The Prophet Calls. Before turning her attention to writing, she worked as a lawyer for more than sixteen years, many of her cases involving children and teens. She received her MFA in Writing from Hamline University and lives in Dallas. You can visit her online at melaniesumrow.com.

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Samuel Teer

Samuel Teer was born to a deaf maintenance worker and an immigrant that spoke English as a distant second language. Obviously he became a writer. He was raised outside of St. Louis, MO. He currently lives outside of Denver, CO with his wife Andrea (an educator) and their two dogs Roxie and Olive.

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Erin Entrada Kelly

Author of books for young people.

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Candy J. Cooper

Candy J. Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting. She has been a staff writer for four newspapers, including the The Detroit Free Press and the San Francisco Examiner. Her work has appeared in the The New York Times, The Columbia Journalism Review and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among other publications. She has written several nonfiction series books for the classroom for Scholastic, and her essay on stepfamilies is part of an anthology, My Father Married Your Mother: Dispatches from the Blended Family, published by W. W. Norton.

(source: Amazon)

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Rex Ogle

Holy moly! I am so humbled and honored for y'all to read my books. Big hugs to all of ya.

Also, check out graphic novels under my pen name REY TERCIERO.

Bio:
REX OGLE is an award-winning author and the writer of nearly a hundred children’s books, comics, graphic novels, and memoirs—most notably Free Lunch, which won the ALA/YALSA award for Excellence in Non-Fiction.

Born and raised (mostly) in Texas, he moved to New York City after college to intern at Marvel Comics before moving over to DC Comics, Scholastic, and Little Brown Young Readers. As an editor, he championed over a dozen NY Times Bestsellers and worked on (and often wrote) major brands such as X-Men, Justice League, Star Wars, LEGO, Power Rangers, Transformers, Minecraft, Assassin

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Renée Watson

Renée Watson is the author of the children’s picture book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen (Random House, June 2010), which was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Her middle grade novel, What Momma Left Me debuted as the New Voice for 2010 in middle grade fiction by The Independent Children's Booksellers Association.

Renée’s one woman show, Roses are Red, Women are Blue, debuted at New York City's Lincoln Center at a showcase for emerging artists. Her poetry and articles have been published in Rethinking Schools, Theatre of the Mind and With Hearts Ablaze.

When Renée is not writing and performing, she is teaching. Renée has worked in public schools and community organizations as an artist in residence for several years, teachin

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Bethany Mangle

Bethany Mangle is the author of the young adult contemporary novels PREPPED and ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. Her third book, CONDITIONS OF A HEART, is forthcoming in February 2024. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spoiling her dog, playing video games, and spending time with her unbearably nerdy husband. She moves too much to put a location in her bio ever again.

Bethany is represented by Jennifer Wills and Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency.

Note:
I don't add readers as friends on Goodreads because of Amazon's policy on reviews. Please follow me instead. I'm also active on Twitter and Instagram @bethanymangle. Thanks for your understanding!

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Ann Clare LeZotte

Deaf--bilingual, bicultural. Author of T4: A Novel in Verse (Houghton, 2008) and Show Me a Sign (Scholatic, 2020). Library Youth Services for 11 years and counting. Focus on underserved populations and inclusion. Lives with her family in Gainesville, Florida.

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Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds is an American author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade audience. After earning a BA in English from The University of Maryland, College Park, Jason Reynolds moved to Brooklyn, New York, where you can often find him walking the four blocks from the train to his apartment talking to himself. Well, not really talking to himself, but just repeating character names and plot lines he thought of on the train, over and over again, because he’s afraid he’ll forget it all before he gets home.

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Paula Yoo

Paula Yoo is an acclaimed book author, TV writer/producer, and musician. Her children’s and Young Adult nonfiction books and novels have won many awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature, ALA-YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Honor, Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, the Asian Pacific American Youth Literature Award, several IRA Notables and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections, plus many starred reviews.

Her latest YA nonfiction book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE, was published on May 7, 2024 by Norton Young Readers (W.W. Norton & Co.). It was selected as a Junior Library Guil

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Sherri Winston

Prepare for your greatest mission yet. Jada Sly, Artist & Spy, is ready to take you on a journey across Manhattan and behind the scenes at her family’s museum. Fast-paced and quick-witted, Jada leads us into her conspiratorial world with great panache and determination. Perfect for cool middle grade spies.
Sherri Winston has eight published works of fiction, and lives in Orlando, FL.

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Vesper Stamper

Born in Germany and raised in New York City, Vesper Stamper writes and illustrates novels which tell, through both words and pictures, stories of history’s rhymes. Her debut illustrated YA novel, What the Night Sings, about the aftermath of the Holocaust through the eyes of a young musician, was a National Book Award Nominee, a National Jewish Book Award Finalist, a Morris Award Finalist, Golden Kite Honor Book and Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner, and was named one of the Best YA Books of 2018/9 by YALSA, the Wall Street Journal and Kirkus. Vesper has a BFA in Illustration from Parsons and an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from School of Visual Arts and is the host of the podcast Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself, which aims

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Maya Van Wagenen

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