Nicholas Solis is an award-winning elementary educator, as well as a writing teacher at the Writing Barn in Austin, Texas. In 2018, he was the recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Grant from We Need Diverse Books. He has taught students all over the globe—from Tanzania to Texas—and there’s one thing he’s learned from his world travels: kids are kids everywhere you go. Nick is a prolific author who writes picture books, teaching blogs, middle grade novels, and poetry. His debut author/illustrator book, The Staring Contest, was released with Peter Pauper Press in September 2020 and nominated as a Redbud Read Aloud Award finalist for 2022. The Color Collector, with Sleeping Bear Press, came out April 15th, 2021, and was chosen as a nominee for the 2022–23 Keystone State Literacy Association Elementary Book Award. His third book is My Town, Mi Pueblo (Nancy Paulsen Books, August 2022). He lives with his wife, their dog, and their son, Leo, in Austin, Texas.