Be a Bridge

”[A] great book to start the school year, to help create rules for the classroom, or to start discussions about connecting to others.“—Children’s Literature

“Latham and Waters reteam for this rhyming exploration of how children can learn to be a “bridge,” building key connections through kindness.“—Publishers Weekly

“A charming and welcome read bound to help cultivate a kinder next generation.“—Kirkus Reviews

Irene Latham is the author of more than a dozen current and forthcoming works of poetry, fiction, and picture books. Her work includes Charlotte Huck Honor Book and ALA Notable Children’s Book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship (co-written with Charles Waters) and the Caldecott Honor Book The Cat Man of Aleppo(co-written with Karim Shamsi-Basha). In 2016 she won the ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award.

Charles Waters is a children’s poet, author, anthologist and actor based in Georgia. His book Mascot (co-written with Traci Sorell) has received an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor and a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor. His other books (co-written with Irene Latham) include: African Town (winner of the 2023 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction), Dictionary For A Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A—Z, Be A Bridge, and the Charlotte Huck Honor book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship.

Nabila Adani lives in Jakarta, Indonesia and enjoys illustrating different cultures around the world. She originally studied Industrial Product Design in Bandung Institute of Technology earning her degree in 2013, yet found her way into illustration later in life. She briefly worked as product designer in Japan and Indonesia before moving to the United States with her family. Now, living back in Jakarta she enjoys illustrating and telling stories for children worldwide.