Authors in Conversation: JGB Inspire Events Showcase Literary Excellence

At the heart of Junior Great Books^® Inspire is a belief that great literature sparks meaningful conversation and deeper understanding. Our recent author events with acclaimed writers Naomi Shihab Nye, Gary Soto, and the creative team behind “Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks”—author Suzanne Slade and illustrator Cozbi Cabrera—perfectly embodied this philosophy, offering educators unique insights into the creative process while reinforcing the value of Shared Inquiry™.

Naomi Shihab Nye: Finding Inspiration in Everyday Moments

Award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye joined us with genuine warmth and humility, expressing how touched she felt to have her work selected for the Junior Great Books collections.

“It’s such an honor to be with you and to have pieces selected for your collections,” Nye shared. “The word ‘inspire’ means a great deal to me . . . I feel embraced by your projects.”

During the discussion of her poem “How to Paint a Donkey,” Nye experienced something remarkable— gaining new insights about her own work through participants’ interpretations.

“I loved it so much, and I learned more about this poem,” she reflected. “I had new thoughts and new insights, even though this is a poem that I’ve been living with for some years now.”

This aligns nicely with the Junior Great Books Shared Inquiry approach, where meaning emerges through collaborative exploration rather than predetermined answers. Nye specifically praised “the manner in which the discussion was led, where nobody was wrong, everything was possible.”

The Painted Donkey Project

Nye shared a delightful story about how her poem inspired a unique artistic collaboration. Scottish children’s book writer Louise Grieg contacted Nye with an unusual request—permission to invite 50 artists across the UK and Europe to create their own interpretations of painted donkeys inspired by the poem.

The resulting website featured Nye’s poem alongside these diverse artistic renderings—some whimsical, some profound, and, yes, some blue like the donkey Nye painted as a fourth grader that inspired the poem! Though the website is no longer active, Nye shared some of the paintings with us after contacting Grieg (one is displayed on this page). The project represents a perfect example of how literature can spark creativity across disciplines and borders.

Gary Soto: Bringing Regional Voices to Literature

Gary Soto, whose stories have captivated young readers for decades, joined us to discuss his work, including “The Chicken That Crossed the Road,” which is featured in Junior Great Books Inspire Series 4. In the story, Miguel, a sixth-grade boy, finds a chicken in an alley and decides to keep it. He sells it to his mean neighbor, Mr. Shafer, for $3 but immediately feels guilty, thinking that Mr. Shafer is certain to kill it and eat it.

Soto emphasized how important it was for him to “put Fresno on the literary map,” highlighting the value of regional voices in American literature. Just as Mark Twain brought the Mississippi River region to life and Robert Frost captured New England, Soto wanted to ensure Mexican American youth could see themselves and their communities reflected in literature.

“I really wanted to put Mexican American youth present in literature,” Soto explained, noting that he sees literature as a medium of “the highest caliber for discourse,” alongside music and visual arts.

The Power of Discussion

When asked about the “message” in his stories, Soto offered a perspective that beautifully echoes the Junior Great Books philosophy:
“I don’t know if literature is about messages,” he reflected. “I really want the readers to feel something in the story line.”

Instead of delivering neat moral lessons, Soto believes in literature’s power to provoke “wonderment”—the questions and conversations that emerge when readers engage deeply with text. Again, this sentiment captures the spirit of Junior Great Books, which values collaborative exploration instead of prescribed interpretations.

“I think that’s where discussion comes in, and there’s a great value in discussion,” Soto emphasized. He even suggested additional questions that could deepen understanding of his story, such as exploring readers’ feelings about the character Mr. Shafer—demonstrating how rich texts contain multiple avenues for investigation.

Suzanne Slade & Cozbi Cabrera: Following the Clouds to “Exquisite”

Our third event featured the remarkable team behind “Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks”—author Suzanne Slade and illustrator Cozbi Cabrera, who provided a fascinating glimpse into how their collaboration brought the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet’s early life to vibrant, colorful life.

A Serendipitous Beginning

For Slade, the inspiration to write about Brooks came during a visit to the University of Illinois in 2013, where large banners announced the acquisition of Brooks’s literary papers and archives. After discovering no picture books existed about this literary giant, Slade embarked on extensive research that would span two years.

During her research, Slade discovered an interview in Ebony magazine where Brooks described looking up at clouds as a child and envisioning her future as “ecstatically exquisite” like those clouds. This single quote provided both the book’s title and its thematic anchor.

“That’s when I decided that Gwendolyn had chosen the title of the book, ‘Exquisite,’ that so well describes her poetry, and that clouds would be the theme that I wanted to try to evoke in the text,” Slade explained.

What followed was a moment of literary magic. After persistently inquiring about cloud-related poems in Brooks’s archives, Slade was finally granted access to view the journals in 2015:

“I carefully selected one, I opened it to the very first page, and there was a poem titled ‘Clouds,'” Slade recalled, sharing how she “got goosebumps” at this discovery. “It’s just one of those rare magical moments in book creation where everything feels right.”
This previously unpublished poem would become a centerpiece of the book, reinforcing the cloud motif that flows through “Exquisite.”

Bringing “Exquisite” to Life Through Color

For illustrator Cozbi Cabrera, the opportunity to illustrate Brooks’ story was a chance to discover more about the poet beyond her famous sonnets. Cabrera’s vibrant, colorful approach created visual poetry that complemented Slade’s carefully crafted text.
“I loved the bright, bright colors that Cozbi used,” Slade noted during the event. “Such vivid bright colors that it just really spoke to Gwendolyn’s words as being bright and enlightening.”

The Creative Process Revealed

One particularly insightful moment came when Slade shared the meticulous revision process behind “Exquisite,” displaying a thick stack of draft manuscripts. “There were about two years where I was working on different revisions,” she explained, noting how the title evolved through iterations like “Up in the Clouds: the Poetic Genius of Gwendolyn Brooks” and “Rhythms of the Street” before settling on the final title.

The challenge, as Slade described it, was balancing factual accuracy with engaging storytelling while honoring Brooks’s own poetic voice: “While I wanted a text that was lyrical and somewhat poetic because it was about Gwendolyn and her wonderful poetry, at the same time, I didn’t want to in any way try to write something that appeared to be trying to sound like her poetry.”
This dedication to crafting narrative nonfiction that engages rather than simply informs perfectly aligns with Junior Great Books Inspire’s approach to selecting texts that spark meaningful discussion.

The Value of Different Perspectives

A common thread across all three events was how each creator valued the fresh insights readers bring to their work. When asked about hearing others discuss her work, Slade responded, “I found this very exciting and enlightening. I found it very interesting to hear the parts that were being pulled out and put together. Very wonderful.”

Similarly, both Nye and Soto expressed appreciation for readers who discover new dimensions in their writing. Nye enthusiastically noted that such interpretations are “a gift, an additional gift of interpretation,” while Soto found these moments “refreshing,” reminding us “that literature has many levels.”

Looking Forward

The Junior Great Books Inspire author events have offered educators a rare opportunity to connect directly with the creative minds behind the literature students explore in classrooms. All four creators—Nye, Soto, Slade, and Cabrera—demonstrated how the Shared Inquiry approach values questions over answers, exploration over dictation, and this mirrors the relationships each of these creators has with literature.

With these selections now part of the JGB Inspire series, students have the opportunity to engage with these rich texts. As discussion facilitator and Senior Academic Consultant Denise Ahlquist pointed out during the Slade and Cabrera event, having both “Exquisite” and Brooks’s own narrative nonfiction piece “Home” in Series 3 creates a beautiful dialogue between texts, allowing students to further explore the life and work of this groundbreaking poet. Many other text-to-text connections are explicitly made in the Teacher’s Editions for each series.

As we continue these conversations with more remarkable authors and illustrators, we’re reminded that great literature doesn’t deliver simple messages on a platter but instead, as Soto beautifully expressed, creates “wonderment”— the questions, feelings, and discussions that truly inspire learning.

Stay tuned for announcements about upcoming author events in fall 2025 celebrating the new Junior Great Books Inspire series!