In a collection of personal stories and essays, award-winning and bestselling artists from Matt de la Peña and Veera Hiranandani to Max Brailer and RL Stine write about how hope always wins, even in the darkest of times.

Dr. Rose Brock, a literacy expert and children's literature champion, compiled a list of the below writers to inspire middle grade readders and give them hope as we exit the pandemic and face the deep divide in our country.



The contributor list is:

Adam Gidwitz

Alex Gino

Christina Soontornvat

Gordon Korman

Hena Khan

James Bird

James Ponti

Janae Marks

Jennifer Cervantes

Julie Buxbaum

Karina Yan Glaser

Matt de la Peña

Max Brallier

Pablo Cartaya

Pam Muñoz Ryan

Renée Watson

Rex Ogle

Ronald L. Smith

RL Stine

Sarah Mlynowski

Soman Chainani

Stuart Gibbs

Tom Angleberger

*Vashti Harrison (art)

Veera Hiranandani

Rose Brock is a professor and educator at Sam Houston State University who has dedicated her career to turning young people into book lovers. Building relationships with readers through books is her superpower. In addition to her career as a librarian and educator, Dr. Brock is the cofounder of NTTBF, the North Texas Teen Book Festival, the largest library run book festival for young people in the country. Dr. Brock was awarded the Siddie Joe Johnson Award for Outstanding Service to Youth by the Texas Library Association. She is the editor of Hope Nation: Young Adult Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration and author of Young Adult Literature in Action: A Librarian's Guide. Visit her online at drrosebrock.com.

Follow her on Twitter @reallyrosebrock.