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Kelly J. Baptist

Home Featured Authors & Panelists Featured Participant Lineup 2026 Kelly J. Baptist

Kelly J. Baptist is the award-winning author of eight children’s books, including Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero, The Electric Slide and Kai, and the NAACP Image Award-nominated Eb & Flow. A dedicated Kobe Bryant fan, she applies his Mamba Mentality to her writing craft. Driven to amplify youth voices, Baptist founded Kejeba Ink to publish serious student writers. An Oakwood University HBCU graduate and member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Baptist lives in Southwest Michigan where her five amazing children keep her busy.

 

Schedule

Will be posted when available.

Eb & Flow

A ten-day suspension has tweens De'Kari and Ebony seeing the world with a fresh perspective. Don't miss this poignant novel in verse from the award-winning author of Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero.

Two kids. One fight. No one thinks they’re wrong.

Flow

I don’t even hit girls . . . is what I’m thinking.

I roll my eyes, turn them to my shoes.

Shoes I’ma wear every day till they fall off my feet.

Eb

It was all just an accident!

Nobody was trying to mess up

his Stupid Ugly Shoes.

Now I’ve got my third suspension of seventh grade.

Ebony and De’Kari (aka Flow) do not get along. How could they when their cafeteria scuffle ended with De'Kari's ruined shoes, Ebony on the ground, and both of them with ten days of at-home suspension? Now Eb and Flow have two weeks to think about and explain their behavior—to their families, to each other, and ultimately to themselves.

Award-winning author Kelly J. Baptist delivers a novel in verse that follows Eb and Flow as they navigate their parallel lives. Single-parent homes, tight funds, and sibling dynamics provide a balancing act for the growing tweens. And whether they realize it or not, these two have a lot more in common than they think.