Genesis Begins Again

"Genesis Begins Again, we would say, is for 12 years and up. This book is definitely hard-hitting. The book tells the story of a 13-year-old called Genesis, who deals with colorism, self-loathing and problems like her father’s gambling and alcoholism. She has a list of 96 things she doesn’t like about herself. Her family keep getting evicted from their house so it’s hard for her to make friends. Once again, it’s middle school—it’s so hard to be in middle school! It’s just a really, really powerful book that I think kids in this age range haven’t really seen before. It really opened up questions and we thought it was beautifully written. Also, there’s hope at the end. It wasn’t just misery, misery, misery and all these awful things. She begins to see the possibility of her self-worth, which once again speaks to resilience. So we were very, very excited to have this as an honor book. I know, that first interaction. I was like, ‘Oh no, there is so much pain here. This is going to be a ride, this is a journey we’re going on.’ Yes, we all have that experience at middle school. Everything is changing for us, we’re hurtling towards adulthood, which can be frightening in itself. Then to have all these other things that seem insurmountable piled on you is just really hard. She does it in a beautiful, heartfelt way. It’s crazy. I guess we were all on the same page, we all saw the excellence in these books. It was quite shocking when they announced it, we were like, ‘I guess they saw what we saw in these books.’ It’s always surprising when that happens. Yes, a completely different group, because the Caldecott Medal is for illustrations. Genesis Begins Again won the new talent award. I was on the 2017 Newbery Medal Selection Committee. That was my first foray into being on a book award committee. Yes, I really did. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. It’s getting to talk to people, who are excited about books and are excited about stories for children. One of the reasons we love the award is because we feel it respects children. It lets children know that they’re seen and heard and that their stories matter. So I think everyone was just so excited to be part of it; I know they were excited to be part of it. It’s so hard. It was extremely tough for us as well. It’s like someone coming in from the public asking, ‘What do you have that I can read? I need a little readers’ advisory.’ We think this award is really important."