What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan has picked up another close-to-home, deep-in-the-heart-of-Texas honor: the Texas Institute of Letters (TIL) award for Best Children’s Picture Book.

Written by me, illustrated by Ekua Holmes, and published by Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster, What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? is among several books being honored this year by TIL, a “non-profit Honor Society founded in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most respected writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, and scholarship.”

As a lifelong Texan and author of a book about a Texas hero, I’m so proud to receive this honor, and to get to share the spotlight with this year’s other honorees, including Naomi Shihab Nye, Ben Fountain, Natalia Sylvester, Brent Nongbri, David Bowles, Varian Johnson, Tarfia Faizullah, Clay Reynolds, Megan Peak, and Stephen Markley. Thank you, TIL!