Messy Bessey's School Desk

All Rookie Readers actively engage young readers, encouraging language development, building fluency, and promoting independent reading. By targeting a skill, like learning about rhymes, young readers are building fundamental reading skills with the help of fun, lively, colorfully illustrated stories.

Patricia and Fredrick McKissack are the authors of numerous award-winning books, including REBELS AGAINST SLAVERY: AMERICAN SLAVE REVOLTS and BLACK HANDS, WHITE SAILS: THE STORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WHALERS, both Coretta Scott King Honor Books, and SOJOURNER TRUTH: AIN'T I A WOMAN? a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award. Patricia and Fredrick McKissack live in St. Louis, Missouri. John McKissack resides in Memphis, Tennessee.



Patricia C.and Fredrick L. McKissack are the authors of numerous and acclaimed books, including REBELS AGAINST SLAVERY: AMERICAN SLAVE REVOLTS and BLACK HAND, WHITE SAILS: THE STORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WHALERS, both CSK Honor Books. They have also collaborated on SOJOURNER TRUTH: AIN'T I A WOMAN?, a CSK Honor Book, winner of an NAACP Image Award, and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Award. For the first time this husband-wife team invites their grown son, John McKissack, a mechanical engineer, to join them as a technical advisor in the creation of this new series.

The elder McKissacks live in St. Louis, MO. John lives in Memphis, TN with his wife, Michelle, and three sons, John, Everett and Peter.