A veteran educator, Dr. Gwendolyn Battle Lavert has made a lasting impact as a children’s book author. Her lyrical picture books, full of warmth and strength, celebrate African American life and culture. From a father who learns to write his name with his son’s help in Papa’s Mark to a boy whose uncle teaches him to play harmonica in The Music in Derrick’s Heart, Lavert mines family and history to create moving, memorable tales. “I want students to know that reading opens up the world to them,” she is quoted as saying in Gale Biographies of Children’s Book Authors. “It’s a journey that will last them a lifetime.”