Description: Hearing the beat helps James discover the courage to use his voice and find his community.
Brief description:
Ty Chapman is an author and poet based in Minnesota. In addition to James Finds the Beat, he is the author of Sarah Rising, Looking for Happy, Stokes (written with John Coy), and Tartarus. Ty was a 2022 Center for Arts + Social Justice Fellow, an award used to support a speculative work in progress with social justice themes. He was also a Mirrors & Windows fellow, as well as a Mentor Series fellow and a finalist for Tin House's 2022 Fall Residency, Button Poetry's 2020 Chapbook Contest, and Frontier Magazine's New Voices Contest. He holds a master's degree in writing for children and young adults from VCFA. When Ty isn't writing, he's usually playing pickup basketball, playing board games with his friends, or petting his two cats, Alabaster and Hobbes.
Review Quotes: "A heartwarming tale about overcoming anxiety, with a meaningful epilogue where the author shares his personal experience with shyness."-- "School Library Journal"