Phelicia Lang is a California native with roots in the Bay Area. Her twenty years in education include working for private, charter, and public schools. One of her greatest joys in teaching included teaching her own four children to read. During the homeschooling years, she learned that not all children learn to read the same way and that success in reading is directly connected to motivation and engagement. This critical discovery led her to pursue a Masters in Reading Language Arts with a focus on Multicultural Literature and a Reading Specialist Credential. She currently serves as a Reading Specialist/ Literacy Lead Coordinator at an elementary school and the coordinator of an Early Literacy Intervention Summer Program for African American Male students entering Kindergarten. Teaching students to learn to read well, think critically, and develop a love of literacy is a portion of her work. Assuring students have access to literature that reflects their lives and cultures in a positive light is the fuel of her passion.