Jacqueline Jules

Who is Jacqueline Jules?

Jacqueline Jules is an American author and poet. She was born in Petersburg, Virginia. In 1979, she earned a BA from the University of Pittsburgh, and in 2001, she received a M.L.S. from the University of Maryland. Since 1995, she has lived in Northern Virginia, where she has worked as a school librarian, teacher, and writer.

Jules began her career as an author with the publication of The Grey Striped Shirt, a story about the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, published in 1995. She has written over a dozen books of Jewish interest for young readers, including The Hardest Word, Once Upon a Shabbos, and two Sydney Taylor Honor Award winners, Sarah Laughs and Benjamin and the Silver Goblet.

Jules has also written stories inspired by her experiences as an elementary school librarian. No English is the story of two second grade girls who find a creative way to overcome a language barrier. Duck for Turkey Day is about a Vietnamese-American child who is concerned about her family’s unconventional Thanksgiving dinner. Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation began as a skit she wrote for her students to perform on Constitution Day.

With Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off, Jules created a chapter book series about a boy who can outrun trains with his super-powered purple sneakers. The idea for this series was sparked by young students who repeatedly asked for a book about a "superhero" on an early elementary age reading level.