Danica Novgorodoff
Danica Novgorodoff is an artist, writer, and New York Times best-selling illustrator. Her books include the graphic novels A Better World is Possible: Global Youth Confront the Climate Crisis, Long Way Down, written by Jason Reynolds; Slow Storm; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; and Refresh Refresh; the cookbook The Simple Art of Rice, with Chef JJ Johnson; and the picture book Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist, and Environmental Pioneer. In 2022, Danica was awarded the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal, the UK’s most prestigious award for children’s book illustration. She also received grants in literature from South Arts (2025), Kentucky Foundation for Women (2025), the Puffin Foundation (2024), the Café Royal Cultural Foundation (2020), and the New York Foundation for the Arts (2015). She can be found at danicanovgorodoff.com.
Featured Book
A Better World Is Possible
Based on the author’s own childhood experience, this funny and heartfelt picture book follows a young girl who wants to bring discussion of her disability into the open, exploring themes of acknowledging and celebrating differences. Mazie wears an eyepatch and a head scarf, and on her first day at a new school she’s prepared for her classmates to wonder why. And they do, but no one talks to her about it. Instead, wild rumors fly around the classroom that she’s a pirate or a dragon burned off her hair! Mazie doesn’t mind explaining her disability, but can she find the courage to tell the other kids to just ask her?