Angie Thomas

At 7, I was shooting 3s with so much ease that the guys at the neighborhood park were impressed. Michael Jordan was one of the best humans to walk the earth in my eyes, third only to Jesus and my mother.

When I was a kid, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was easy - the next Lisa Leslie.

Michael Brown - when he lost his life, there was more focus on what he had done sometimes than what was done to him.

At the time when I was in college, Oscar Grant had just lost his life in Oakland, Calif. He was an unarmed young black male who had a record. And at the time when his death was making headlines, more people were talking about what he had done in his past than the fact that he unjustly lost his life.

When I was in the YA age range myself, I didn't feel like there were a lot of books for me.

YA does a fantastic job of being socially aware and, at the same time, entertaining.