about | Brigit Young

Photo credit: Jessica harring

Brigit was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan and now lives with her husband, daughters, gecko, and dog in the lovely (and underrated!) land of New Jersey. Her debut middle grade novel, Worth a Thousand Words, was a Junior Library Guild selection as well as a Best Book of 2019 from The Bank Street College of Education. The Italian translation was the recipient of the Andersen Prize for Best Book for 12-14 year olds. Her sophomore novel, The Prettiest, received multiple starred reviews and was featured on several reading lists including Best Books of 2020 from the Chicago Public Library, Seventeen Magazine's 50 Books for Teens That You Won't Be Able to Put Down, and NBC News' 9 Books to Help Young Girls Build a Positive Image. Bank Street College of Education listed her third novel, Bright, as a Best Book for 12-14 year olds with the honor of outstanding merit. Banned Books, Crop Tops, & Other Bad Influences was placed on the 2025 Kansas National Education Association Reading Circle List and voted as a Teacher's Favorite for 6th through 8th grade by the Children's Book Council. Additionally, Ms. Young has published short fiction and poetry in journals like The North American Review, 2 River View, Eclectica Magazine, and Burrow Press, among others. She has taught creative writing to kids of all ages in settings ranging from a library to a hospital. One of her favorite things in the world is watching children learn the magic of using their voice to create a story or a poem.

When Brigit isn't working, she loves hanging out with her children, tending to her garden, cuddling her dog, forcing her husband to do impressions, binge-watching British mysteries, and singing at the top of her lungs when no one else is around.

Readers often ask me about my favorite/favourite things. So here they are, in all their wild and whacky glory:

Picture books: Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portia, Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel, Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola, Beside the Bay by Sheila White Samson, The Hello Goodbye Window by Norton Juster, My Heart Fills With Happiness by Monique Gray Smith, the first Madeline book by Ludwig Bemelmans, The Mole Sisters by Roslyn Schwartz, Max and the Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper, Fiddler and His Brothers by Tord Nygren, Herman and Rosie by Gus Gordon, Bimwili and the Zimwi by Verna Aardema, Corduroy by Don Freeman, The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco, and The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Books for kids: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, New Kid by Jerry Craft, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, The Giver by Lois Lowry, When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo, Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Books for former kids: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor, Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley

Movies for kids of all ages: Ponyo, Kiki's Delivery Service, A League of Their Own, Akeelah and the Bee, Cinderella starring Brandy, Coco, Lilo and Stitch, Matilda the Musical, The Princess Bride, School of Rock, Spellbound, and Mrs. Doubtfire

Movies for adults: Sense and Sensibility, When Harry Met Sally, Volver, Do the Right Thing, Waiting for Guffman, Wet Hot American Summer, Set It Off, The Birdcage, and It's a Wonderful Life

Poems: "somewhere i have never travelled" by e.e. cummings, "Instructions for Not Giving Up" by Ada Limon, "Brother" by Octavio Paz, "Her Kind" by Anne Sexton, "Sorrow Is Not My Name" by Ross Gay, "A Meeting" by Wendell Berry, "On Finding an Old Photograph" by Wendy Cope, "Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines" by Pablo Neruda, "Song" by Adrienne Rich, "Poem" by Charles Simic, "I, Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes, "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith, "First Love" by Christine Garren, "The Thing Is" by Ellen Bass, "Childhood" by. Kate Baer, "In Blackwater Woods" by Mary Oliver, ""Although the Wind" by Izumi Shikibu, "Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong" by Ocean Vuong, "Advice" by Langston Hughes, and anything by Lucille Clifton

Songs (this one is really long): "Ojalá" by Silvio Rodriguez, "Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes" by Taj Mahal, "Further On Down the Road" by Taj Mahal, "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" (Ella Fitzgerald version), "Summertime" sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, "So Long, Marianne" by Leonard Cohen, "Always Be My Baby" by Mariah Carey, "Till There Was You" (Beatles cover and Marion the Librarian versions), "Baby Love" by The Supremes, "Bag Lady" by Erykah Badu, "On & On" by Erykah Badu, "Shelter From the Storm" by Bob Dylan, "Place to Be" by Nick Drake, "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire, "God Bless the Child" sung by Billie Holiday, "I'd Rather Go Blind" by Etta James, "Waiting in Vain" by Bob Marley, "One Drop" by Bob Marley, "Our Town" by Iris DeMent, "Moody's Mood for Love" (Amy Winehouse's cover), "Tears Dry On Their Own" by Amy Winehouse, "Waterloo Sunset" by The Kinks, "Gracias a la Vida" by Violeta Parra, "Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel, "Speechless" by Lady Gaga, "You Got Me" by The Roots ft. Erykah Badu, "Golden Slumbers" by The Beatles, "Dirty Old Town" by The Pogues, "Long Time Gone" (cover by The Chicks), "Gloria" sung by Patti Smith, all of Stephen Sondheim's songs, "You and I" by Wilco, "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke, "Everywhere" and "Silver Springs" and "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac, "La Vie En Rose" (the cover by Louis Armstrong), "16 Carriages" by Beyoncé, "Under Control" by The Strokes, "Ain't No Way" and "Baby, I Love You" by Aretha Franklin, "Somebody I Used to Know" by Elliott Smith, "Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest, "California" and "A Case of You" and "Little Green" by Joni Mitchell, "I Want a Little Sugar In My Bowl" and "Ain't Got No..." sung by Nina Simone, "Loch Lomond" sung by Runrig, "Fast As You Can" and "Oh Well" and "I Know" and every other song written by Fiona Apple, "You Don't Know Me" by Ray Charles, "Samson" by Regina Spector, "seven" and "Would've, Could've, Should've" and "Right Where You Left Me" by Taylor Swift, "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today" by She & Him, "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick, "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana, "Here You Come Again" by Dolly Parton, "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child, "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon, and *every* *single* *song* on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill.

Lastly, I personally believe almost every song is at its best when Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan or Nina Simone sings it - and let's add Aretha Franklin to that list, too.

Ojalá

Song by Silvio Rodríguez

Quotes:

“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”

- Mary Oliver

"Be like a tree,

Let the dead leaves

Drop."

- Rumi

"Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards."

- Vladimir Nabokov

"Do not be daunted