Ann Braden

Ann Braden writes middle-grade fiction about young people learning to stand up for themselves and one another. Flight of the Puffin, published by Nancy Paulsen Books in 2021, connects four children through a handmade card carrying an encouraging message. Libby's small act travels beyond her Vermont community and reaches characters facing bullying, grief, isolation, and family expectations in both rural and urban settings. Braden builds the novel through several viewpoints, letting each child interpret kindness differently before the separate stories converge. Her earlier novel The Benefits of Being an Octopus was an NPR Best Book, and her work outside fiction has included teaching, mentoring, and organizing postcard campaigns against hate. Those experiences give Flight of the Puffin a practical interest in how words move between strangers and create support. The book has received school and library honors, including the M. Jerry Weiss Book Award for middle-school novels, and its classroom resources extend the story's focus on art, empathy, connection, and respectful community.