Martha Brockenbrough

Mar 9, 2024 | kirkusreviews.com | Deborah Noyes |M. Bridget Duffy |Michael Bronski |Martha Brockenbrough

A dramatization of the people and events surrounding the 17th-century Salem witch trials, tied together with relevant nonfiction information. Through scenes and conversations based on careful research, this graphic novel informs readers about lesser-known aspects of the infamous trials, which have become embedded in popular lore and imagination.

Jan 5, 2024 | kirkusreviews.com | Martha Brockenbrough |George Takei |Justin Eisinger |Adam Eli

A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans. Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D.

Jul 19, 2023 | hbook.com | Alexandra Hightower |Kathleen T. Horning |Martha Brockenbrough |Lisa Yoskowitz

Future editor of Freewater. Photo courtesy of Alexandra Hightower. On a recent visit to her family home in Atlanta, Alex(andra) ­Hightower came across some papers from her tenth-grade English class. Looking at her essays and the notes in the margins, Alex was struck by how the work she did in that class informed her work now as an editor. Her teacher, Mr. Newman, always encouraged his students to dig deeper and think about how books and media connect to other artwork and the larger world.

Jul 10, 2023 | hbook.com | Alexandra Hightower |Kathleen T. Horning |Martha Brockenbrough |Donna Barba Higuera

Amina in seventh grade. Photo courtesy of Amina Luqman-Dawson. Working with Amina Luqman-Dawson has been nothing short of joyous. Back before the incredible double whammy of the Coretta Scott King and Newbery awards, before Freewater became a New York Times and Indie bestseller, I knew from my very first editorial calls with Amina that she was delightfully observant. She has a knack for taking in her surroundings, ingesting that information, and then executing with precise strength.

Jun 26, 2023 | hbook.com | Amina Luqman-Dawson |Kathleen T. Horning |Martha Brockenbrough |Donna Barba Higuera

I’ll begin with gratitude. Thank you to the Newbery committee for recognizing Freewater. You read my work, connected with it, and judged it worthy, regardless of my debut status. To Laura Schreiber, the editor who plucked Freewater from an ever-flowing river of manuscripts. Laura immediately had vision and excitement for it. Thanks to James Patterson and JIMMY Patterson Books for beginning my journey.