Michelle Y. Green

Michelle Y. Green is an American author of children’s literature. She graduated from the University of Maryland the Johns Hopkins Master's Program in Writing and teaches several courses, including one on writing children’s literature. Her childhood inspiration, read to her in school in Germany, was Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie. Her father was in the military and a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. Booklist, in a starred review, said that "Johnson's ebullient personality and determination fairly leap off the page", and noted the "short, action packed chapters" and the occasional photos of Johnson and other players. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “at once unique, yet sadly representative of the hold racism had on every facet of society,” and that “Green has wisely allowed her to tell the story in her own voice… “ For that book, Green practiced various pitches and developed a close relationship with Mamie Johnson. Green’s earlier Willie Pearl series tells the story of Green’s own mother, and is set in a coal mining town in Kentucky during the Depression. Green's latest project is a book about African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.

Works A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson (2002). Cover Illustratation by Kadir Nelson.

Willie Pearl Willie Pearl Willie Pearl: Field Day at Big Sandy Willie Pearl: Under the Mountain