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Sunshine State Author Series

  • Q&A with Kelly J. Baptist

    Q&A with Kelly J. Baptist

    Kelly J. Baptist is the author of several works for young readers. Her published works include the middle-grade novels The Swag is in the Socks, Eb & Flow and the Isaiah Dunn series. She won the 2015 We Need Diverse Books short story contest with her story, The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn.…

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  • Q&A with Adrianna Cuevas-01

    Q&A with Adrianna Cuevas

    Adrianna Cuevas is a first-generation Cuban American originally from Miami, Florida. She is the award-winning author of several middle-grade novels for young readers including Cuba in My Pocket and The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto. In 2021, she won the Sunshine State Young Reader Award for her grade 3–5 novel, The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez.…

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  • Bringing Readers Together Through Mayor Buddy’s Book Club

    Bringing Readers Together Through Mayor Buddy’s Book Club

    Throughout the year, Orange County Library System, City of Orlando’s Mayor Matching Grant recipient, proudly partners with Mayor Buddy’s Book Club, a City of Orlando youth program, to host monthly book clubs at local neighborhood centers across Orlando. These book clubs connect young readers with literacy coaches and community helpers, such as firefighters, police officers and public officials who participate in lively book discussions and trivia. The…

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  • SSAS - A Conversation with Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos-01

    Sunshine State Author Series: A Conversation with Zack Loran Clark & Nick Eliopulos

    Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos are the co-authors of The Adventurers Guild, winner of the Sunshine State Young Readers Award for grades 6–8. The Adventurers Guild tells the story of two best friends as they battle monsters to protect one of the last surviving cities in the world. Zack and Nick will visit the Fairview Shores Branch…

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  • Sunshine State Author Series

    A Conversation with Sharon Robinson

    Sharon Robinson is the author of The Hero Two Doors Down, based on a true story about her father, Jackie Robinson, and eight-year old Dodgers fan, Steve Satlow. The Hero Two Doors Down, on the Sunshine State Young Readers Award list for grades 3–5, is a story about baseball, friendship and breaking racial barriers. Robinson…

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  • March09-27

    Sunshine State Author Jackson Pearce visits the Orlando Public Library

    Sunshine State author Jackson Pearce entranced audiences at Alafaya Branch and the Orlando Public Library on March 8 and March 9 with the true story of a wounded rat that she saved from the jaws of a cat, put in her backpack and brought home at age 9. The rat, much to her mother’s chagrin…

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