A Cat Named Sam: Friendship Is for Adventure (Ages 4-8) (Learn compassion, Learn to listen to others)

Born in Port-au-Prince, M.J. Fievre, B.S. Ed, earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Barry University. A seasoned K–12 teacher, a creator of safe spaces, and an initiator of difficult conversations, she spent much time building up her students, helping them feel comfortable in their own skin, and affirming their identities. Her close relationships with parents and students led her to look more closely at how we can balance protecting a child’s innocence with preparing them for the realities of life. She has taught creative writing workshops to children and teens at the O Miami Poetry Festival and the Miami Art Museum, as well as in various schools in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), and South Florida. She’s also been a keynote speaker at Tufts University (Massachusetts), Howard University (Washington, DC), the University of Miami (Florida), and Michael College (Vermont) and has served as a panelist at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference (AWP).

M.J.’s publishing career began as a teenager in her native Haiti. At nineteen years old, she signed her first book contract with Hachette-Deschamps for the publication of a YA book titled La Statuette Maléfique. Since then, M.J. has released nine YA books in French that are widely read in Europe and the French Antilles, and she is the author of the award-winning Badass Black Girl book series for tweens and teens (in English). One Moore Book published M.J.’s first children’s book, I Am Riding, as part of a special limited series edited by Edwidge Danticat. A middle-grade book, Young Trailblazers, and picture book, Sam Is Afraid of Christmas, are both set to be released by DragonFruit in the fall of 2021.

As the ReadCaribbean program coordinator for the prestigious Miami Book Fair, M.J. directs and produces the children’s cultural show Taptap Krik? Krak! For her podcast, MJ has interviewed many literary legends, including Edwidge Danticat, Alice Randall, and Nikki Giovanni.

Thomas B. Logan was born in Hollywood, FL and raised by a single mother with help from his grandparents. He is of Irish-American decent, with roots in West Virginia and South Carolina. Thomas graduated from Miami-Dade College with an associate degree in Computer Art and Animation, and after a hiatus has returned to college with the ultimate goal of obtaining a master’s degree in Studio Art. He is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Multimedia Studies at Florida Atlantic University.

Thomas has been passionate about art since he was old enough to pick up a crayon. He drew on everything from walls to carpet to flooring, and eventually paper. In the first grade, his school artwork was exhibited at a gallery showing at the Omni Mall in Downtown Miami. Thomas continued to hone his art in a specialized program in the arts in his school district. There, he found inspiration in the works of notable artists such as Salvador Dali, M.C. Escher, Raphael, and also in more contemporary illustrations by Rob Liefeld, Todd Liefeld and Jim Lee, among others. Thomas’s art has been exhibited in shows and gallery settings throughout Miami-Dade County, and he has contracted work for many small businesses, companies and institutions such as the Miami Book Fair and Miami-Dade College, among others. He’s created murals in Miami-Dade County for local schools and churches, and collaborated on a mural project for Miami-Dade College.

Thomas is currently the Co-owner and Creative Director at Logan Masterworks. He brings over 20 years of experience in the arts and in the business world to his position with the company. His work runs the gamut from painting and illustration to 3D modeling and graphic design. He is currently illustrating a comic book he is co-writing with M.J. Fievre, a lifelong dream of his.