English Professor Longlisted for National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard, Brown Chair of English Literacy, director of the Community Literacies Collaboratory, and associate professor in the Department of English has been named to the National Book Foundation's prestigious Longlist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. They are nominated for their children's picture book Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams was published by Abrams Books for Young Readers in January. The book, illustrated by Shannon Wright and written by Pritchard, is the only picture book on the Longlist. 

As the National Book Foundation explains, "Eric Darnell Pritchard and illustrator Shannon Wright bring a picture book to this year's Longlist with a biography of the Black fashion designer Patrick Kelly. Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams tells the story of a young boy from Vicksburg, Mississippi, who discovered a passion in sewing clothing for people who, like him, don't quite fit in. Clothes to Make You Smile is a joyful celebration of diverse body shapes, sizes and skin colors that brims with self-love, self-expression and self-acceptance."

Judges for the Young People's Literature prize read through 290 book submissions to determine this year's Longlist, with Clothes to Make You Smile securing a spot in the list of 10 works. The book has received impressive reviews from KIRKUS, Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, the Horn Book and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Literary Hub (LitHub) named the book to its list of "Most Anticipated Children's Books of 2026."

The picture book is one of two book projects Pritchard has written on Kelly. The other, Adorn: The Tenacious Life and Joyful Art of Patrick Kelly, a comprehensive adult nonfiction biography of Kelly's life and work, is forthcoming from W.W. Norton and Company.

The list of the other nine Longlisted books as well as the name of the judges panel can be found in the links below.