Tagged

Liam is a fourteen-year-old graffiti artist living in project housing in Minneapolis with his single mother and three younger siblings. When Liam’s estranged older brother coerces him to tag a graffiti symbol for a rival gang, Liam’s life is threatened. Due to his apathetic attitude in the classroom and on the baseball field, Liam’s private-school scholarship is also threatened. His mother decides to send him to Lake Michigan for the summer to live with her best friend, Kat, a sculptor and art teacher, Liam soon delves into the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, and his own personal aesthetics. He’s encouraged to consider his art seriously and how it might contribute to a greater community. Having to decide between staying with Kat and returning home to his siblings who need him, Liam’s story inspires him to reinvent himself for the better.

Diane C. Mullen is a Minneapolis-based writer, filmmaker, arts educator, and mother of two grown kids. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. Diane enjoys cycling everywhere around her beloved city; tending a plot in the Soo Line Community Garden; and working at the renowned Walker Art Center. She is the author of the middle grade novel, Tagged and the picture book, One Little lot: The 1-2-3s of an Urban Garden.