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Vashti Harrison is a New York Times best-selling author.

Her first notable work was the title Big, in which she authored and illustrated. Ms. Harrison has won various literary awards (2024 Caldecott Medal, Corretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor, National Book Award finalist)

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No matter how big or small! From bold women in history to exceptional men, all these legends show that being the first is not easy.

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Her skin is darker than others, and she wants to feel beautiful! Actress Lupita Nyong'o teams up with Harrison to create this book, showcasing the beauty in all people.

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Born in 1988

Is multi-racial (African-American and Indian)

Went to the University of Virginia

Has her Bachelor's and Masters

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AALBC.com, the African American Literature Book Club

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Vashti Harrison, Author, Illustrator and Filmmaker /><meta name=

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Vashti Harrison, born in 1988, is a Virginia-based author, illustrator, and filmmaker with a passion for storytelling. She has degrees in Media Studies, Studio Art, Film and Video, with a background in cinematography and screenwriting. Harrison’s work, which focuses on her Caribbean heritage, has been showcased globally at film festivals. Now, she’s a freelance graphic designer and picture-book illustrator based in Brooklyn, NY.

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STEM-based book for children who love to ask questions! They use all the steps of the scientific method to figure out those answers to those questions.

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Interview from 2023 with guest host Dulce. She shares what makes her work different than her peers and why it is authentic.

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Vashti Harrison - “Big” | The Daily Show

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In 2023, Harrison was a finalist for the National Book Awards. Here is her speech from that event.

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Vashti Harrison at the 2023 National Book Awards Finalist Reading

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Her last post was from 2024, but it was mostly her awards and other random pictures.

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Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

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"He's transitioned the story from film to page, and the result is an ode to the incredible versatility of African American hair and the charming resilience of a dad to his daughter" (Shelf Awareness, 2019).

Key Themes: Self-confidence, father/daughter relationships, diversity

Literary/Artistic Choices: Transformed from the short film of the same name. The use of the colors blue and yellow shows calmness and wants the focus to be on the story of a father and daughter. Also, Harrison uses pastel colors to reflect the main character Zhuri's girlishness.

Why it matters: For young Black girls, our hair is a source of ridicule and challenge. We are looked at as looking unkept and not presentable. For special events, we plan around our hairstyles. I wish I had had this book when I was younger because my hair was a chance for other girls to bully me.

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"Sulwe's struggle with her dark skin reflects the entrenched preference for lighter skin in many African cultures, rooted in colonial legacies reinforced by Western beauty standards" (Lise's Bookcase, 2025).

Key themes: Self-perception, balance, and equality

Literary/Artistic Choices: Using the metaphors day and night to describe that each is beautiful in its own right. Using dark and saturated colors shows that the main character, Sulwe, is dark and wants to emphasize her beautiful ebony skin. Lightness is preferred over dark, whether that is in skin color or the sky, but both are beautiful.

Why it matters: Similar to Hair Love, Black people are ridiculed for their skin color. Colorism is a real issue in the Black community because darker skin is considered ugly or unpleasant. While lighter skin is considered beautiful and associated with whiteness. Children learn this tactic by comparing skin colors because they hear the language repeated by adults. For example, she is so dark you can't see her teeth!

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"In the children's book 'Big, ' its young protagonist is learning to deal with some really big feelings. Some of those feelings are caused by words and can change meaning and impact over time" (Cabrera, 2023).

Key Themes: Emotions, adultification of children, and words

Literary/Artistic Choices: As the book goes on, the main character outgrows her environment. That shows how the uses people use are affecting her so much that she can't handle it. Since she is a big girl that she has to grow up faster than other girls her age. She has to manage her emotions and become smaller.

The use of pink to make the focus of the main character. Usually pink is associated with girly and happy, but not in this case. Also, using muted colors such as sienna to show emotion and how that affects the main character.

Why It Matters: Words are harmful whether they come from peers or people close to you. It's how you deal with it and not shrink yourself to make others feel better. You need to feel that for yourself!

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Recurring motifs: Self-esteem/self-confidence, finding beauty within yourself, uniqueness, and standards of beauty

Character Types: Young, Black girls with various problems and issues, ranging from feeling beautiful about their hair, skin color, and feelings

Social Issues: Colorism, hair policing, and the angry Black girl/woman troupe

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" A lot of women of color are hungry to see girls illustrated with such sweetness and whimsy because we are rarely got that in the media we grew up with."

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"So I really wanted to focus on some parts of these stories that you don't hear that much, or names that you not necessarily made their into the mainstream".

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Cover: Has 3 important people on the cover who were vital in their fields (Ella Fitzgerald, Mae Jemison, and Katherine Johnson). The book has a hardcover without a dedication page or a title page; it jumps start to the story. Also, not included are the dust jacket or endpages.

Typography: Harrison uses a variety of curisve and print on the cover. The inside of the book uses conventional print that is easy to read for both young and adults alike.

Layout: Vashti has the person of focus in the middle, and then surrounding them, she has little illustrations.

Meaning: She wants the reader to match what the person does to the illustration (stars and moon for space, books/library for Maya Angelou, and so on. These women were the leaders and forewomen in their field and should be regarded as such.

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Cover: Has the main character (Cece) and her friends, along with her dog, on an adventure of some type. Also, the cover has illustrations of different science tools and materials (beaker, flashlight, lightning bolt, and magnifying glass). Looking at the cover, it could look very busy and overstimulating. The endpages have similar illustrations, but with a green background that is repeated. Some of the illustrations start pink but fade into other colors. On another page, the background is green, but the illustrations fade from blue to green. The title page is super simple, with the title written in a simple font along with more scientific illustrations.

Meaning: This series of books shows that girls of color enjoy going outside and exploring the outdoors like everyone else. You do not see this type of representation in other books.

*Received this information from Amazon and could not copy/paste pages since it is copyrighted material.

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Cover: 2 friends are enjoying a festival that is celebrated called Holi, which is a springtime holiday. The cover is bright with tons of colors and tiny illustrations in the word colors. These could be symbols that represent various items.

Endpapers: Have bright colors that blend into one another. Which could be patterned. It could represent the colors or dye that is thrown during the celebration of Holi.

Title Page: Has the same font and style as the front cover, but instead of the two characters wearing white, they are wearing normal clothes, carrying a basket of some sort.

Meaning: For certain people, the holiday of Holi is sacred and important. It is not just throwing colored dye at each other to make a mess. It is a celebration of Spring and renewal.

*Received this information from Amazon and could not copy/paste pages because it was copyrighted material.

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Vashti Harrison grew up a bi-racial child who had to live between two different identities. On one side, she has her African-American side, while on the other, she has her Indian side. For many children who are bi-racial, where do you fall or belong? The majority of her books have characters who are strong and independent, all things she was called at younger ages that served her throughout her life. She wants young women and girls to look up to people who are not influencers or Instagram models. These characters or people all have jobs or lead the way in their field. I like that in the Little Ones series, she refers to certain people as legends because they came before her.

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This project has made me aware that these books are out there if you take the time to find them. I appreciate Vashti Harrison for creating and illustrating these stories for young readers to read and enjoy. I feel inclined to buy more of her work and have it in the classroom. Not only during Black History Month were these types of books often displayed, but all the time. My school is not the most diverse when it comes to the student body or staff. Oftentimes, than not, I am the only non-white person my students see, especially at the preschool age.

I want my students to know that it is okay to be exposed to people of other cultures who have done positive things. In this political climate, it is even more urgent. I wish I didn't have to hold the torch for this cause, but here we are. For this cause I will gladly do it even it causes me to educate in more ways than academically.

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Interview from 2020 about her series Little Legends and how she chose to profile.

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The book we're talking about right now almost didn't exist.

Little Legends celebrates exceptional men in black history; it's by the author-illustrator Vashti Harrison. She says she thought long and hard about taking on this subject matter, because she relates more to women's stories.

"My first book Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History ... came from a really personal place," Harrison says. "I was thinking about the stories that I needed to see when I was a little kid. From the moment it got announced people were asking me, 'Are you going to write one about black men as well?'"

Eventually she gave in, since demand was so high for a followup - and the result was Little Legends. On every other page, Harrison's detailed illustrations bring each profile to life. And there's one thing they all have in common: She's drawn every one with their eyes closed.

"I really wanted to create this sweet, simple character," she says. "I could have drawn each of these famous people to look like themselves, but I wanted to create a child character and kind of make it look like they were almost dressing up as these famous people. They've got their eyes closed, with this sweet smile. And I wanted it to feel like they're kind of imagining themselves in the worlds of these wonderful people. But I also wanted to create a beautiful book ... something that featured characters of color, people of color in a book that looks like it belongs on the shelf next to Winnie the Pooh and Madeline and Eloise."

Interview Highlights
On choosing which men to profile
It was not easy. There was, I think, originally a list of about 100 people, obviously so many incredible people who could have gone in. But one thing that was really important for me in the first book, that I carried over into this one, was showcasing a diverse list of fields of study. Sure, there are doctors and lawyers and activists, but also engineers and cyclists and artists, because there's a question that a lot of adults ask kids - and I don't really like this question so much. When I was little, I didn't love it. But it's what do you want to be when you grow up? ... I mean, I don't think you should have to know too early. Great if you do. But also cool if you don't. But I wanted to be able to fill kids up with the knowledge of all these different paths and fields of study. So when they're ready to answer, they'll know about all these cool folks that came before them.

On choosing men who may not be as well-known
Originally, you know, when I was thinking about my first book, I was thinking about Black History Month. And why is it that we actually celebrate Black History Month when Carter G. Woodson founded Negro History Week in 1926? His goal was to celebrate the stories that have been long neglected throughout history. So I felt like, here's an opportunity to showcase some names that you wouldn't maybe come across in the mainstream. So when you go to the bookstore, there are lots of books featuring Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama. I wanted to be able to showcase some names that you may not see everywhere else, so like Bass Reeves and John Robinson. But obviously there are some big names because ... I hoped that, you know, people would share this book. And just in case it was someone's first introduction to black history, there are a few big names.

On the artist Aaron Douglas
I mean, I definitely have a soft spot for the artists. So one of my favorites is Aaron Douglas for sure. You know, his work was just really just so beautiful. He was a master of color, and he was making artwork for and about black people in a time before anyone considered black to be beautiful. And he just made his work so unique. He combined Art Deco and Cubism and Egyptian hieroglyphics to create this bold style that became the look for the Harlem Renaissance. His work was everywhere on posters, on book covers, in magazines. And I just, I love everything he's created.
On how these men responded to the racism around them
What I really wanted kids to connect with was this passion and joy that a lot of these people found in the things that they were doing. Someone like Major Taylor, who faced incredible racism and prejudice in the cycling industry. He still went after his love and and enjoyed it and found beauty in it. And I really wanted to be able to share that with kids.

I mean, it's a harsh reality that a lot of parents of color, children of color experience often way too early. But what I really want them to know is that through hard work, through grace, through kindness and through passion, these people found and created lives that were meaningful and made work that was meaningful for other people. It was tough tackling some of these subjects. It's dark. Our history is dark sometimes. And I found it was really important to just put it all out there. You know, it was reality. And so I really just want these young readers to know that that didn't define them. These hardships didn't define them, but it was their love and their kindness and their goodness that made a difference in the world.
This interview was produced for radio by Reena Advani and Victoria Whitley-Berry, and adapted for the Web by Petra Mayer.

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'Little Legends' Celebrates Big Lives Of Black History

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Vashti Harrison's new picture book showcases black leaders throughout American history - but not just the big names. She also focuses on artists, athletes and scientists who may be less well-known.

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About | Vashti Harrison. (n.d.). Vashti Harrison. https://www.vashtiharrison.com/about

Bookcase, L. (2025, August 2). Reflecting diversity in children’s literature: A critical analysis of Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o. Medium. Retrieved October 26, 2025, from https://lisesbookcase.medium.com/reflecting-diversity-in-childrens-literature-a-critical-analysis-of-sulwe-by-lupita-nyong-o-d4213ac758b0

Children’s book ‘Big’ explores the impact words can have on young minds. (n.d.). Texas Standard. https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/big-childrens-book-vashti-harrison/

Shelf awareness for Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (n.d.). Shelf Awareness. https://shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3470#m43985

Spoor, N. (2020, April 15). Now on view: Vashti Harrison - Society6 blog. Society6 Blog. https://blog.society6.com/now-view-vashti-harrison/

Vasht. (n.d.). AALBC.com, the African American Literature Book Club. https://aalbc.com/authors/Vashti+Harrison

Vashti Harrison and Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History. (2018, August 1). https://magazine.arts.virginia.edu/stories/vashti-harrison-and-little-leaders-bold-women-in-black-history

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Exploring the Impact of Vashati Harrison's Work on Representation and Empowerment

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Here is the final reflection on this whole project. I really enjoyed it! Can't wait to explore more of her projects.

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Exploring the Impact of Shati Harrison's Work on Representation and Empowerment

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In my midterm, I discussed Shati Harrison, an inspiring illustrator whose work highlights strong women and themes of agency and representation. I found her background, being a woman of color in the art field, particularly compelling. I want to incorporate more of her books into my classroom library to provide my students with diverse role models beyond the typical influencers and athletes. This will help them see the variety of careers available to them. I encourage everyone to explore her work and consider adding it to their collections as well.