Anastasia Higginbotham

Join us on Thursday, April 22 at 10 AM on Crowdcast for for a discussion and book with Anastasia Higginbotham, author of What You Don't Know: A Story of Liberated Childhood.

Questions about joining an online event? Email events@odysseybks.com for more info.

Event Description

Join author/illustrator Anastasia Higginbotham for an interactive roller disco party and discussion about her new book. What You Don’t Know: A Story of Liberated Childhood is a book about God and gays, the family that cares for you, and how easy love can be.

About the Book

Anastasia Higginbotham's What You Don't Know: A Story of Liberated Childhood delves into queerness, Blackness, and the love that dismantles whiteness.

It's a book about knowing deeply that you matter--always did, always will. It's a book about what schools get wrong and churches don't say; but institutions are made by people and the people are evolving. It's a book about being known and cherished by family, and living in communion with your own personal Jesus, Buddha, Spirit, Source, Father, Mother, God, breath, inner space, outer space, nothingness, and however else we name and relate to our divinity and humility in the presence of all we don't know.

Most children, gay or not, in or out, are sure to find themselves within these pages. The message that "all you need is to be you" will stay with readers long after the last page, in a book for LGBTQIA+ collections and beyond. --SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

Higginbotham manages to acknowledge the bias that Demetrius faces, put the emphasis on the love he receives, and make him an empowered and confident protagonist who is grateful for help but not a passive victim. --MOMBIAN

I think the days of Heather Has Two Mommies are long past. We're ready for GLBTQIA+ stories for kids that are a little bit complicated and a little bit interesting and a whole lotta fantastic. For all this, the person you turn to is Anastasia Higginbotham. --BETSY BIRD, Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library

About the Author

Anastasia Higginbotham is the author and illustrator of Divorce Is the Worst, Death Is Stupid, Tell Me About Sex, Grandma and Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness—all part of the Ordinary Terrible Things series. Her latest book, What You Don't Know: A Story of Liberated Childhood, is available now. She lives in Brooklyn.