Jacqueline Jules
Jacqueline Jules
Award-winning author, poet, teacher, librarian
Some people like puzzles. Others like video or card games. Jacqueline Jules likes to play with words. She loves rearranging them until they fit together to make the picture she wants. At author visits, she encourages young writers not to be afraid to pull a sentence from the top of the page and put it in the middle or at the end. Good writing is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes you have to turn the words around until they snap smoothly into place.
An avid reader, Jacqueline is a fan of many genres: fantasy, poetry, realistic fiction, and history. She loves reading about people in faraway places and those who could live next door. Her own work reflects this same diversity. She writes board books, picture books, chapter books, novels, and poetry on a wide variety of topics.
Jacqueline is the award-winning author of 23 children's books, including Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off (2010 CYBILS Literary Award, Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Honor Award, ALSC Great Early Elementary Reads), Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation (2010 Library of Virginia Cardozo Award), Benjamin and the Silver Goblet (2010 Sydney Taylor Honor Award), Duck for Turkey Day (TN Volunteer State Award List, Washington State Children’s Choice Book Awards list), and No English (DE Diamonds list, TN Volunteer State Award list).
Also a poet, Jacqueline won the Arlington Arts Moving Words Contest, Best Original Poetry Award from the Catholic Press Association, and the SCBWI Magazine Merit Poetry Award.
Most of Jacqueline's books have grown out of her experiences as a teacher and elementary school librarian. Students are her inspiration. Her picture book No English, about two girls who find a creative way to overcome a language barrier, was motivated by her own desire to reach out to English-as-Second-Language learners. Duck for Turkey Day began after a discussion on Thanksgiving with immigrant students. Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation started as a skit for her students to perform on Constitution Day. And her Zapato Power series was inspired by students clamoring for a superhero story.
When not reading, writing, or teaching, Jacqueline enjoys taking long walks, attending the theater, and spending time with her family. She lives in Northern Virginia. Please visit her at www.jacquelinejules.com where she has extensive activities and resources to accompany her books.