New Signing for 2024

Very excited to announce the signing of new author/illustrator, Michelle Maiden, with her debut picture book, Grandpa Kuma. The book tells the story of a little girl’s experience of her grandpa visiting from Japan. Michelle grew up in Queens, New York. Her mother is Japanese and emigrated to the States from Tokyo as an adult, to study fine art in Washington DC. Her father was American, born and bred in NYC and from an orthodox Jewish family. Grandpa Kuma is based on Michelle’s own experiences growing up as a mixed race child. Her Japanese grandfather (ojiichan) used to visit her most summers. Michelle wasn’t fluent in Japanese but could manage a few words and phrases. Together with her ojiichan she had to find other ways of communicating and connected through the games and activities pictured in the story. We absolutely love this book. Look out for it in April 2024!