For release on January 25, 2017:

HODT Books
PO Box 693
Skokie, IL  60076
(773) 792-7748

Contact: Wanda Gibert – Wanda@hodtbooks.com

A sixth grader with a funny name is smart, black, and a geek. That means parents, bullies, and bullets.
And girls.

With Diary of a Smart Black Kid: Sixth Grade, Baron Winters discovers that navigating middle school is filled with more risk than he thought.

Skokie, IL. – January 25, 2017 – Life is one big cafeteria full of mixed messages, and 11 ‐ year ‐ old Baron Winters is courageously trying to decipher them all. Going into sixth grade, he wrestles with the age-old question that confronts every single one of us: “What are the rules?”

He’s got a test coming up that might change his life. Yet, he loves the freedom of days off from school, filled with video games and snacks. Puberty is knocking on his door, and so are the relentless school bullies. Baron is constantly confronted with the idea of what it means to be black. And of course, there’s that one girl, and she just laughs every time she sees him.

With his inaugural journey into middle school, Baron Winters takes his funny name, the fact that he’s smart, black and a geek, and accepts the challenge of trying to understand it all.

Diary of a Smart Black Kid: Sixth Grade (HODT Books, ISBN: 978-0-9888216-9-9, $6.99) is the adventure story of a child’s effort to find self-acceptance in the midst of the assumption of ethnic norms, best friends, relentless bullies, and crushes.

In this funny, and extraordinarily honest book, Baron describes his middle school life in the suburbs of Chicago, revealing his own epiphanies along the way. Readers can be encouraged to discover that his struggle is our struggle, and that self-acceptance is always worth fighting for.

About the Author:

David Taylor II is a sought‐after author, songwriter, producer and playwright. He has received Black Theater Alliance awards, written top ten music singles, created national commercial campaigns, and penned number one selling books. As a speaker, he has worked with schools, day camps, and churches from coast to coast.

Today, Taylor, a father of two, continues to create novels, comics, games, music, and plays. He also helps other creatives begin their professional journey into the arts. His motto is, “Don’t complain…create!” Visit www.davidtaylor2.net for more information.

To arrange an interview with the author, or to request a review copy, contact

Wanda Gibert at HODT Books – Wanda@hodtbooks.com (773) 792-7748.

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