12-year-old Marley Dias is continuing to make a name for herself.
The social activist, EBONY Power 100 honoree and brainchild behind #1000BlackGirlBooks, an international movement to collect and donate children’s books that feature Black girls as the lead character, will now be a published author.
Her book will be published by Scholastic Corporation, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books.
“Marley’s energy and passion are electric!” Vice President and Executive Editor for Scholastic Andrea Davis Pinkney said in an emailed statement. “Through her smarts and ingenuity, she’s delivered a jolt of inspiration that’s sent an unstoppable shock-wave to kids everywhere who’ve stood up with Marley to shout ‘Yes!’ to the positive of action.”
Marley’s forthcoming work of nonfiction, set for a Spring 2018 release, will show kids how to make their dreams come true. In her guide, aimed at readers that are 10 and up, Marley details how she turned her passion into a literacy crusade that has garnered the attention of the media, policymakers and young people from throughout the world.
Marley launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks initiative in Nov. 2015. The goal was the collect 1,000 books featuring Black female protagonists by Feb. 2016. So far, Marley has collected 8,000 books to date, a number that far exceeded #1000BlackGirlBooks’ goals.
Now THIS is a happy headline!
