Mélina Mangal’s work has been published by Milkweed Editions, Coffee House Press, W.W. Norton, and Carolina Wren Press. She is the author of five biographies for youth, including The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just, winner of the Carter G. Woodson Award. Her latest book, Jayden’s Impossible Garden, won the first Strive/Free Spirit African American Voices in Children’s Literature contest, was recognized as a Blueberry Honor book by the Evanston Public Library for inspiring love of nature and action for planet earth, was named One of the Best Children’s Books of the Year by Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature, and was nominated for the Minnesota Star of the North Reading Award.