Christina Vortia i(she/her) s the Rare Books Librarian at Howard University‘s premier Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, the world’s leading repository on the global Black experience. Christina is an educator, librarian, blogger, and book reviewer with a commitment to young people, service, literature, and the culture. She has served on the 2020/2021 LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature, 2019/2020 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee, 2017 Michael L. Printz Award Committee, and the 2017 Florida Author’s and Publisher’s Association Book Awards Committee. She was the Chair of the 2023 Newbery Committee. Christina is a book reviewer of children’s and young adult literature at Kirkus and School Library Journal. She also blogs at HypeLit.com and has been a contributor to the popular literary website, Book Riot.
Christina has worked in public, academic and federal libraries using statistical analysis to gauge community needs to plan programs, facilitate community partnerships, write and contribute to winning grants. Christina received her Master of Science degree in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Montclair State University.
Maegen J. Rose is the Director of Library Program and Upper School Librarian at Brooklyn Friends School in New York. She received a bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College, a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago, and a master’s degree in library science from Dominican University.
Maegen is an active member of local and national library organizations including the American Library Association (ALA), Association of Library Services to Children (ALSC), American Association of School Librarians (AASL), Hudson Valley Library Association (HVLA), Association of Independent School Librarians (AISL), and The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY). She has reviewed books for School Library Journal and served on the 2019-2021 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury. Maegen is a member of Library Journal’s 2021 class of Movers & Shakers and chaired the 2023 Children’s Literature Legacy Award Committee.
Dr. Nicholl Montgomery is a literacy coach for the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR). Nicholl taught middle and high school English in Boston for ten years. She also co-facilitated a family book club at the only Black owned bookstore in Boston. In both settings, she used classic and contemporary middle grade and young adult African American Literature to engage children and families in critical conversations about race, class, and gender. This work led her to pursue her doctorate in curriculum and instruction. Her dissertation focused on the middle grade and young adult literature of Jacqueline Woodson that had Black girl protagonist. Along with an analysis of Woodson’s literature, Nicholl provided lesson ideas for teachers who were interested in using Woodson’s work in the classroom. Nicholl regularly reviews for The Horn Book and was a judge for the 2021 Boston Globe Horn Book Awards.
Jessie Mae Maimone (she/her) is a PhD candidate at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s iSchool. Her research interests are in the experiences of Black teens in public library spaces and the ways we teach future librarians to work with all youth. She earned her MSLIS at UIUC, M.S. in Book Publishing from Pace University, and B.A. in English from James Madison University. Jessie is currently a diversity reader for Writing Diversely and reviewer for The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.
Mitzi Mack serves as a media specialist for a local magnet middle school in the School District of Hillsborough County. In this role, Mitzi collaborates, leads, coordinates and develops a plan for successful integration of technology, curriculum and literature.
Mitzi is an accomplished teacher/curriculum specialist for 24 years. For the last three years, Mitzi has acted as a Teacher Advisor for Scholastic Teacher Magazine, and as a book reviewer for Corwin Publishing company. In previous years, Mitzi served on the board of the Manatee Community Action Agency as a liaison for the School Board of Manatee advocating for issues regarding Pre-K literacy. Though often buried in a book, Mitzi is also a community conscious volunteer who feeds her passion and drive by helping others and participating in continuing education courses at the local university.
Karen Lemmons is a retired high school librarian/teacher from the Detroit School of Arts. She is Chair of BCALA Services to Children and Families of African Descent. She is a member of ALSC, AASL, and YALSA. She served as Treasurer of the Coretta Scott King Book Award Committee. She has served on several book award committees including Newbery, CSK Book Award, Caldecott, Carnegie Medal, Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Printz, the Walter Awards, and the Black Caucus Literary Awards. She is very passionate about, and advocates for multicultural literature. In addition to reading great books, Karen knits, quilts, sews, and roller skates.
Patricia A. Kidd is a 2001 graduate of Catholic University School of Library and Information Science. While at Catholic, Patricia focused on Law Librarianship. Patricia has had an exciting and stellar career in academic law libraries, law firm libraries and University and Community College libraries. In the last few years, Patricia has focused her career in special collections, concentrating on African American History Collections, Church History Collections as well as others. While working in academic libraries is important to Patricia, working as a library consultant is slowly becoming her niche in addition to duties in libraries Patricia has been teaching for UMGC since 2011, First Term Experience courses for Undergraduate and Graduate, teaching and enhancing library and critical thinking skills. Patricia is a true excavator of information who dances to a unique beat.
Emma Kallok (she/her) is a writer and librarian based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A lifelong lover of books and libraries, Emma believes in the power of stories to inspire and ignite change. After becoming a children’s book author as a kid, she went on to study creative writing in undergrad, and now helms The Find, a biweekly newsletter celebrating the work of Black, indigenous, and people of color. When not curating The Find, Emma serves on her library’s racial equity and queer advocacy teams. Named one of the Bohemian’s North Bay People of the Year in 2024, Emma’s mission is to create spaces where BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities experience belonging–both within libraries and in literature.
Dr. E. Gale Greenlee is a freelance writer-editor and independent children’s literature and Black Girlhood Studies scholar, based in Greensboro, N.C.. She holds a doctorate in African American literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her work focuses on representations of Black and Latinx girlhoods in kids/young adult literature. The inaugural ACLS Emerging Voices Fellow at The Ohio State University, she most recently served as a teacher-scholar residence at the bell hooks center at Berea College. Dr. Greenlee has taught courses on young adult literature and banned books, and she previously worked for the Greensboro Public Library where she directed an adult ESOL program and helped launch initiatives such as PoetryGSO and El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros. She has blogged for the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival, served on the board of Griot and Grey Owl Black Southern Writers’ Conference and on the Weatherford Book Award committee for the Appalachian Studies Association. Her essay, “A Blueprint for Black Girls: bell hooks’s Homemade Love” appears in College Literature’s special issue, “Children, Too, Sing America.” Her writing can also be found in Hyperallergic magazine, Southern Cultures, the National Humanities Center’s “Humanities in the Class” digital library, Children’s Literature Association Journal, and The Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education.
Donna Gray is a Library Coordinator for the New York City School Library System. She has over 20 years of experience in K-12 education, library services, and higher education. Donna has previously worked at the New York Public Library as a Senior Young Adult Librarian, at Teacher’s College, and the New York City Department of Education. Donna is currently the chair of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association & School Library Journal’s Children & Young Adult Literary Awards, an executive committee member of Project Cicero, and an adjunct instructor at St. John Fisher Univerisity. She received her Master’s in Library Science with a School Library Media concentration at Queens College, CUNY, and a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Bankstreet College. Donna has worked in K-12, public, and reference library settings. She is interested in developing strategies and programs that help students become engaged, informed, active citizens and learners in their communities and beyond.
Dr. Roberta Price Gardner is an associate professor of reading and literacy education in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at Kennesaw State University. Her research and writing explore the aesthetics of Black children’s literature, reader response, and the social-cultural and political contexts that impact the literacies of Black children and Black childhoods. She is a former school librarian and has worked throughout Georgia with various non-profits, universities, and public schools to cultivate literacy-focused community partnerships.
She currently serves on the editorial team of the Reading Teacher. Her work be found in journals such as Urban Education, Journal of Children’s Literature, Language Arts, Children’s Literature in Education, and Research in the Teaching of English. Dr. Gardner was a National Council Teachers of English (NCTE) Research Foundation’s Cultivating New Voices Fellow, a recipient of the International Literacy Association’s Supporting Young Scholars program, and the University of Georgia President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award.
Dr. LaKeshia Darden [she/her] is the Associate Librarian for Reference and Instruction at Warren Library, Palm Beach Atlantic University located in West Palm Beach Florida. LaKeshia taught high school English for eight years and her experiences confirmed for her the importance of the inclusion of diverse literature in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. In Fall 2020, LaKeshia completed her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Fayetteville State University. Her dissertation, Diversity Training Through Story: University Professionals Explore Narratives of the Black Experience by Reading Coretta Scott King Book Awards Titles, explored the effectiveness of narrative theory coupled with using award-winning Black children’s literature as a diversity training tool with white university professionals. Darden is a member of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table (CSKBART) and served on the CSK Jury from 2017-2021. 2019-2021, and in 2023-2024 she served as the Chair of the CSK jury. (LaKeshia is not reviewing during this time.) LaKeshia currently serves on the American Library Association’s Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Assembly. She has designed, led, and facilitated DEI trainings for colleges and universities, public libraries, and special interest groups. LaKeshia is the wife of Lt. Col. Kurtis Darden (USAF) and together they have six children.
Edith Campbell [she/her/Ms.] is Librarian in the Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State University. As part of the Reference and Instruction team, she serves as the liaison to the Bayh College of Education, Scott College of Business, HIstory Dept., and Economics Dept. She also manages the library’s Teaching Materials Collection. She also teaches a one semester graduate level course, Representation in YA Literature. In 2016, she served as a Faculty Fellow to the ISU Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence’s Multicultural Curriculum Learning Community. Edith has served on the WNDB’s Walter Award, YALSA’s Printz, ALAN/NCTE Walden Award Committee and ALSC’s Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal committees. Her research interests include the representation of Black children in youth literature and implementation of critical literacy practices in libraries. Edith is a founding member of See What We See and the We Are Kidlit Collective. She blogs to promote media literacy and social justice in young adult literature at CottonQuiltsEdi. Edith received her BA in Economics from the University of Cincinnati and MLS from Indiana University. Edith Campbell is a mom of three, and grandma of two beautiful girls. Ih her spare time, she likes to garden, quilt, cook and travel.
Vivian Bynoe has a diverse professional background spanning education, non-profit work, and libraries. Vivian’s journey began as a preschool teacher for Head Start in Charlotte, North Carolina. She transitioned to working in the children’s department of a public library and today, she is the Head of Information Studies, and Associate Professor at Georgia Southern University Libraries. Vivian leads innovative teaching and research initiatives with her team. She also previously taught as an adjunct professor at The University of Arizona Global Campus and is pursuing her Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies.
She is a fellow of the Red Clay Writing Project at The University of Georgia; a program for teachers interested in developing themselves as writers, writing pedagogy, writing communities, social justice, classroom-based inquiry, and teacher leadership.
Pauletta Brown Bracy is a professor in the School of Library and Information Sciences at North Carolina Central University where she also serves as Director of the Office of University Accreditation. She began her library career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania public schools as a middle school librarian. Her areas of teaching and research are school library media librarianship, and children’s and young adult literature and services with foci on ethnic perspectives in literature and meeting the needs of African American children and adolescents in school and public libraries. She is former chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee and a recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her most recent book is Libraries, Literacy, and African American Youth (Libraries Unlimited, 2017) which she co-edited with Sandra Hughes-Hassell and Casey H. Rawson. She holds a B.A. in English from Fisk University, the Master of Library Science from the University of Pittsburgh, and the Ph.D. in library science from The University of Michigan.
Chandra Alford (she/they) Chandra is an educator who has a passion for teaching history, literature and writing to secondary students. Currently they are a MLIS student with University of Missouri’s graduate program, and are excited to be transitioning to the role of secondary librarian for their current school community.
Black Cotton Reviewers 