Marley Dias

For kids in 2nd or 3rd grade, I would recommend the 'Dear America' series. Most of the stories in the 'Dear America' series, if they have black girls, are about them being enslaved, but they escape or do something really adventurous.

Black girl stories aren't just for black girls: they're for everybody.

I've learned to use big words. Because I'm an avid reader, I can prove myself as a smart and diligent person.

My parents taught me the importance of telling the truth no matter what.

Reading has been a part of my life ever since I was born.

Fashion is very important to me. I dress androgynously - I absolutely despise dresses and skirts and tights - and I started wearing glasses in the third grade.

I like NPR's podcasts because I can listen to those on the bus.

My mom was born in Jamaica and has always been around a community of black people, so she encouraged me to get out and act. My dad, on the other hand, is from suburban Massachusetts, so he had not been around a lot of black people.

People say, 'Dream big!' - but you have to think about the logistics. It's not just coming up with a great idea; it's how you can sell or market or promote that great idea.

Black History Month could focus less on slavery and civil rights and more on the Harlem Renaissance and everything we have achieved. I want to know about the whole black experience.

When I create a story, I can make it however funny, sad, or happy I want it to be. And when I read, I feel like I'm in the story, and I get to experience it. It feels like I'm watching someone else do something, but I'm doing the thing that the character is doing as well.

I think writing gives me creative freedom.

I think it is important to speak your mind. Tolerance of the ignorance sends the wrong message to kids.

I believe that feminism needs to teach more girls about how to make institutional changes and how to further engage men and boys into being our allies.

Like feminism, I want to create systems and structures for the equity for all people, especially girls and women.

When I get lost in a book, it's just, like, magical!

Anyone can change the world however they want for the better!

I am purposeful in how I present myself to the world. I want my ideas to be taken seriously, and so I present myself in a way that allows people to see me and listen to what I have to say.

I want young girls to know that their passions are important and that they should pursue them, regardless of whether or not they think that they'll be successful in terms of the mainstream.

'Star Wars' is my favorite movie series ever. I like the old ones better than the new ones, but I like all of them.

I don't want to bring negative energy to myself, and if people feel one way about me, I don't want that changing how I feel or what I believe.

'Marley Dias Gets It Done - And So Can You' is a book about how girls who are 10 and up - and everyone who is 10 and up, basically - can use their gifts and talents to help the world in a way that's unique to them.

You always need to make sure that you're looking at every angle and every perspective so that people, when they read the story, know what's happening. You have to write for everyone.

My parents have taught me the value of reading and self-love through books that have characters that look like me and talk like me.

It's important to read books and see people who look like you. It helps you know that you are not the only one or the weird one because you're a black girl and you are not seeing anyone who looks like you in these books.

I think reading about black girls if you are a black girl is important. And for those who don't like to read, seeing yourself in a book can help them learn to love it.

When you are reading about a book, you focus on the main character, of course. When you have something in common with them and connect with them, you remember the lessons they learned, and then you can apply them to your life. So you can live the best life you can.

When I speak at events, I often wear my dad's ties and my mom's earrings. It's a small, almost secret way of having them with me when I'm up there onstage, talking to a roomful of strangers. It makes me feel safe.

Dressing in an androgynous way, mixing up the masculine and feminine, blurring those boundaries - I'm cool with that. No one should ever be limited by stereotypes of gender, just as no one should ever be limited by stereotypes of race.

Yes, you can be passionate about school and fashion simultaneously. The two are not mutually exclusive - one doesn't cancel out the other.

If I meet someone who's Native American and I don't know anything about indigenous people in New Jersey - which I kind of don't, which is not really good - I can learn more and more about their lives, and that makes me a more open person and a more accepting person.

I come from a community that has a lot of white kids, and I notice how, a lot of times, they don't understand our differences and how I come from a different culture and my ancestors are different and my history is different.

I want other kids to see the joy in reading and literacy and how, if you read about things, they become so much closer, and if you're willing to put in the effort and time and passion, you can really understand them.

I wasn't seeing black girls in the books I was assigned to read at my school. I was tired of only reading about white boys and dogs and wanted to collect books featuring black girls.

I think the biggest thing is that success is not measured by whether or not you're on 'CBS This Morning' or whether or not you make the local news station.

I have some friends who love to perform and wish they were getting the attention I am getting. But that doesn't stop them from supporting me.

All my friends can probably only name one publishing house, and that is Scholastic; they are everywhere. Scholastic is the perfect partner for spreading my message of diversity, inclusion, and social action.

As members of society, we should always be pushing our girls to strive to be the best and to speak up and out about issues we see.

My passion for books has changed my life.

Between school, homework, tests, and play time with my friends, I have worked my butt off to create this space where black girls' stories are read and celebrated in schools and libraries.

It was the desire to see black girls and our experiences in the books that I was given to read at school that forced me to speak my truth. I launched #1000BlackGirlBooks, a book drive to collect the stories of women of color.

In my class - in all fifth-grade classes - we were required to read 'classics,' books like 'Shiloh,' which is about a white boy and the dog he rescues. And 'Old Yeller,' which is about a white boy and the dog that rescues him. And 'Where the Red Fern Grows,' which is about a white boy and the two dogs he trains.

If you like reading, you are allowed to like to dance and to like to sing and to like to act.

My goal for the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign is to create systemic change across all school systems. I want there to be diverse books that reflect the lives of every person, regardless of whether or not they are in the majority.

I think the biggest thing, where my passionate-ness comes from, is that I love reading, and it is something that I really care about.

Even though I wear glasses, I'm not just a mousy person who stays in my room - even though I do sometimes stay in my room and read.

I'm working to create a space where it feels easy to include and imagine black girls and make black girls like me the main characters of our lives.

Innovation comes from, one, acknowledging yourself; two, studying and understanding the problem; and three, finding a solution.

Social actions means that you find an issue in your community, and you create an initiative to solve that issue or to help people.

I have role models, but I take the attributes of the people that I admire, and I use them to create my best self.