Author Esme Raji Codell celebrates her birth date on Oct. 5, 1968, in Chicago. Her mother is a secretary and her father is an activities director at a nursing home. Her younger brother is a professional rapper who runs a record store.

Codell always liked to write and kept diaries since she was seven. Her parents and grandparents encouraged her as they were gifted writers and readers. Her high school teacher Mrs. Robinson taught her how to organize her thoughts.

She married Jim Pollock, who is a great artist and social activist. Codell is a former teacher, bookseller and children’s librarian living in Chicago with her husband and son.

Her first grown-up book, “Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year,” gave her the opportunity to travel the country talking to teachers about how important it is to teach using children’s books. Then came her first novel, “Sahara Special,” winner of the IRA Children’s Book Award, Kirkus Editors’ Choice for 2003 and a Book Sense 76 #1 title.

Her hobbies include reading, dance and sing in her living room, cooking, studying Chinese Zodiac and gardening. Her favorite foods are chocolate and cheese.

We have one of her non-fiction books, “How to Get Your Child to Love Reading.”