The Day You Begin

Excerpt:

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant yet heartening book about finding the courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone.

There will be times when you walk into a room
and no one there is quite like you.

There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk or where you're from; perhaps it's what you eat or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody knows you yet, but somehow you do it.

Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's stunning art remind us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes and how brave we go forth anyway. And sometimes, when we reach out and begin sharing our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.