The Day You Begin

The Day You Begin is a heartfelt and uplifting book that encourages children to find courage in sharing their own stories and to find connection in the stories of others. It helps children understand that they are not alone in their feelings of otherness, and that it is our individual qualities and experiences that bring us together. National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpre Illustrator Award winner Rafael Lopez have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding 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; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael Lopez's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway. Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.