Over the past decade, a growing number of children's books have thoughtfully highlighted immigration stories, chronicled refugee experiences, and showcased the strength of family traditions that bridge geographic divides.

Please join us on 5/7 at the Northampton Center for the Arts as acclaimed picture book authors Rajani LaRocca, Mary Wagley Copp, and Hannah Moushabeck discuss the impact that migration stories have on young readers, why these books are critical for developing cultural understanding and belonging, and how to represent challenging realities.

A reception will follow the panel discussion and High Five Books will be onsite to host an author signing.

Mary Wagley Copp is the author of Wherever I Go, which won the Massachusetts Book Award, and the new book Yoshi's Big Swim: One Turtle's Epic Journey Home. She was a producer of an Emmy Award–winning documentary on refugee resettlement, and worked for many years in the refugee resettlement community. Her professional life has also included community organizing in Appalachia, teaching in Ecuador, and being executive director of two nonprofit organizations. When she’s not writing, Mary teaches ESL to newcomers in her community. She lives in Westport, Massachusetts, with her husband, their puppy, and their chickens. They have three grown children.

Hannah Moushabeck is a second-generation Palestinian American author, editor, and book marketer who was raised in a family of publishers and booksellers in Western Massachusetts and England. Born in Brooklyn into Interlink Publishing, a family-run independent publishing house, she learned the power of literature at a young age. She is the author of Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine (Chronicle Books, March 2023). She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts on the homelands of the Pocumtuc and Nipmuc Nations.

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor winning middle grade novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of fiction and nonfiction, novels and picture books, prose and poetry. She finds inspiration in her family, her childhood, the natural world, math, science, and just about everywhere she looks. Learn more about Rajani and her books at www.RajaniLaRocca.com.