Joan Schoettler is a children’s author and professor of children’s literature and storytelling at California State University, Fresno. Her book The Honey Jar won the Gold Medal for Juvenile Books at the 2024 California Book Awards and was a 2024 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. Joan lives in central California with her husband. Visit her at JoanSchoettler.com.Steffi Walthall is an illustrator and character designer born and raised in Virginia. She received her BFA in Game Development from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). Steffi focuses on crafting a diverse range of characters and unique stories and is the illustrator of Joan Schoettler’s A Doctor at Heart, Chris Barton’s Moving Forward, and J.E. Bright’s Wonder Woman: The Way of the Amazons. For more information about Steffi, please visit SteffiWalthallArt.com.

This picture book biography. . . focuses on Thomas’s trailblazing accomplishments and uses specific scenarios centered in concrete emotions to make them relatable. The story does not shy away from the many racial barriers Thomas faced. . . A final spread shows Thomas receiving an honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins in 1976, capping this look at an often-overlooked medical pioneer.

Joan Schoettler is a children’s author and professor of children’s literature and storytelling at California State University, Fresno. Her book The Honey Jar won the Gold Medal for Juvenile Books at the 2024 California Book Awards and was a 2024 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. Joan lives in central California with her husband. Visit her at JoanSchoettler.com.Steffi Walthall is an illustrator and character designer born and raised in Virginia. She received her BFA in Game Development from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). Steffi focuses on crafting a diverse range of characters and unique stories and is the illustrator of Joan Schoettler’s A Doctor at Heart, Chris Barton’s Moving Forward, and J.E. Bright’s Wonder Woman: The Way of the Amazons. For more information about Steffi, please visit SteffiWalthallArt.com.

This picture book biography. . . focuses on Thomas’s trailblazing accomplishments and uses specific scenarios centered in concrete emotions to make them relatable. The story does not shy away from the many racial barriers Thomas faced. . . A final spread shows Thomas receiving an honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins in 1976, capping this look at an often-overlooked medical pioneer.