Advisory Board

Laura Bush
Honorary Chair
Founder of the Texas Book Festival, 1995
Co-Founder of the Library of Congress National Book Festival, 2001
David Baldacci
Honorary Member
No. 1 New York Times best-selling author
Founder, Wish You Well Foundation
James Patterson
Honorary Member
No. 1 New York Times best-selling author
Founder, ReadKiddoRead.com, winner of the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize 2009
Founding partner, Children’s Reading Fund (UK)
Allister Fa Chang
Former Executive Director, Libraries Without Borders
Chantal Francois, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor, College of Education, Towson University
Juan Felipe Herrera
U.S. Poet Laureate emeritus
John Jacobs
Senior Technical Assistance Specialist
Barbara Johnson
President (retired), Rowland Reading Foundation
Senior Strategic Advisor, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Past President, American Lawyer Media
Karen Lotz
President and Publisher, Candlewick Press
Group Managing Director, Walker Books Limited
Meg Medina
2019 Newbery Award winner
Ernest Morrell, Ph.D.
Professor, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame
Director, Notre Dame Center for Literacy Education
Dr. Gholdy Muhammad
Best-selling author
Associate Professor of Language and Literacy, Georgia State University
Karen M. Ristau, Ed.D.
Former President, National Catholic Educational Association
Professor, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn., Retired
Loriene Roy, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin
Past President, American Library Association
Benita Somerfield
Founding Executive Director, Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy (1988-2012)
Finance Chair, Reach Out and Read
Michael F. Suarez. S.J.
Director, Rare Book School
University Professor and Professor of English, University of Virginia
Co-editor, The Oxford Companion to the Book (2010)
Angie Thomas
No.1 New York Times best-selling author
Dr. Don Vu
Educator and author