Debbi Michiko Florence

Author of the middle grade books: KEEP IT TOGETHER KEIKO CARTER and JUST BE COOL, JENNA SAKAI, and the upcoming novel SWEET AND SOUR (July, 2022/Scholastic). KEEP IT TOGETHER KEIKO CARTER is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, a New England Book Award finalist, and a Project LIT 2020-21 Book Club selection. Kirkus Reviews gave JUST BE COOL JENNA SAKAI (an Amazon Editor's Choice Pick) a starred review and says it is "...complex as is delightful."

Also the author of the chapter book series Jasmine Toguchi about a spunky Japanese American 8yo girl. Four new Jasmine Toguchi books coming in '22 - '23! Available now: Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen; Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth; Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl; and Jasmine Toguchi, Flamingo Keeper (FSG/207 and 2018). Jasmine Toguchi Mochi Queen was a Junior Library Guild selection, Amazon’s Best Children’s Books of 2017, a Bank Street 2018 Best Children’s Books of the Year, on the 2018 Amelia Bloomer List, and on The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) 2018 Choices List (Best of the Year). Jasmine Toguchi Drummer Girl is a 2019 Cybils Award winner, a Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award winner, a Junior Library Guild selection, on the CCBC 2019 Choices List, and on the Chicago Public Library’s Best Of list.

Co-wrote the picture book biography NIKI NAKAYAMA: A CHEF'S TALE IN 13 BITES with Jamie Michalak, art by Yuko Jones. This book received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly and Booklist.

A third generation Japanese American, a native Californian, and former classroom teacher and zoo educator. For more information, please see author's website.