Ten-year-old Monte has always been surrounded by his best friends, but when his mother pushes him into the school's honors program, Monte shutters.
As a former elementary teacher, Michael A. Woodward, Jr. has found himself back in the classroom as a current PhD student at Barry University in Miami, FL. Throughout his studies, he has collected a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Florida A&M University (FAMU) and a Master's degree in Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He is inspired daily by his three sons and current fiancé whom he credits much of his motivation from. However, it's the stories he carries of being in the classroom surrounded by 3rd and 4th grade black and brown scholars who struggled to find fiction literature that they could see themselves in. Too often than not, a feeling of disconnect overcame his students during class-wide trips to the library between them and the books they lifted from its shelves. As such, Woodward fought through his personal self-doubt and disbelief in his ability to write in an attempt to create a story that is symbolic to the hundreds of thousands of children who stem from low-income communities and face inequities that many adults may never have to encounter. One day, he believes that all children will have the opportunity to take advantage of a deserving and equitable education, and it's his belief that it begins with us as their educators. Inspire The Masses, LLC
