JaNay Brown-Wood

JaNay Brown-Wood, PhD, is an award-winning and New York Times Best-Selling children’s author, poet, educator, scholar, and a former professor of Early Childhood Education and Child Development. Her first children’s book Imani’s Moon won the NAESP Children’s Book of the Year Award and was featured on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, and her second book Grandma’s Tiny House: A Counting Story! won the CELI Read Aloud Book Award. JaNay has over twenty-five books published including the popular Where in the Garden picture book series, the Harriet Tubman and Simone Biles Little Golden Book Biographies, the Scholastic Love Puppies chapter book series, and the highly praised picture book Jam, Too!—an NCTE Notable Poetry Book for 2025. JaNay is also featured in several educational web-videos including Cooking with JaNay and Jammies with JaNay and she travels the country presenting to children, teachers, librarians, administrators, parents and community members. JaNay lives in California with her husband Catrayel, her daughter Vivian, and her turtle Theodora. Learn more about JaNay on her website.