Inprint Cool Brains! Series presents Elizabeth Acevedo

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The 2026/2027 Inprint Cool Brains! Series presents an exciting afternoon with National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo, sharing her new YA novel Anger Is Only a Shadow. This free event will take place on Sunday, October 18, 2 pm (doors open at 1:30 pm) at Houston Independent School District's Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School, 10410 Manhattan Drive, 77096. The program will include a presentation by Acevedo, an audience Q&A, and a book signing, giving kids a chance to meet Acevedo, plus an appearance by celebrated Houston writer Jasminne Mendez. Inprint will provide free signed books to the first 100 families at the event. Books will be available for purchase from Kindred Stories, and free bus scholarships are available for school groups. For free tickets and more information, visit inprint.org or call 713.521.2026. Known for YA novels filled with poetry, humor, and heart, Elizabeth Acevedo is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie medal, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also the author of With the Fire on High, which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal; and Clap When You Land, which was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus finalist. Acevedo is a National Poetry Slam Champion and served as the 2022 Young People's Poet Laureate. "An irresistible story of family connection, resilience, and loyalty" (Kirkus starred review), Anger Is Only a Shadow is Acevedo's powerful new YA novel in prose and poetry. Lil is anything but small. She's rebellious, she's loyal; she's figuring out what kind of good person she wants to be, or if she wants to be a good person at all. But more than anything? Lil wants to be free. When her instinct for freedom leads to another stay in D.C. juvenile detention, Lil knows she's lucky to just be on probation. But judgment, guilt, and an ankle monitor weigh heavily on her, and she can't shake that pinned-down feeling. The only person who might understand is her big brother, Aldwin. Except he's more distant now than just the hundred miles from his college. As her court hearing ticks closer, a question looms over Lil as the missed phone calls and strange texts from her brother pile up: will she stay put, or put her future freedom on the line? "A striking and nuanced portrait of the realities of juvenile detention and mental illness" (Publisher's Weekly starred review) and "intensely genuine" (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starred review), Anger Is Only a Shadow a white-knuckle journal to self-understanding and doing the right thing, no matter the cost. Now in its 20th anniversary season, the Inprint Cool Brains! Series has been called "one of our city's best literary offerings" (Holly Beretto, 365 Things To Do in Houston). The series has presented more than 40 of the nation's leading children's authors, including Sylvia Acevedo, Kwame Alexander, Christopher Paul Curtis, Kate DiCamillo, Nathan Hale, Gordon Korman, Lois Lowry, Meg Medina, R.J. Palacio, Gary Paulsen, Jason Reynolds, Jon Scieszka, and others. The series receives generous underwriting support from H-E-B Tournament of Champions. Inprint also receives support from The Brown Foundation Inc., Jerry C. Dearing Family Foundation, Houston Endowment, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and Texas Commission on the Arts. Special thanks to Kindred Stories and Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School.