Eagle Express & Community Programming

Keenan Jones is an author who currently resides in Plymouth, Minnesota, who spent his childhood in Gary, Indiana and south suburban Chicago. He comes from a family of educators, pastors, athletes, and musicians. After suffering a career-ending injury while playing college basketball, Keenan pursued a career in education, serving as an elementary school teacher before returning to his passion of writing. As an author, Keenan believes that literacy can inspire young people to dream and strive for greatness. He is committed to providing every child with the opportunity to immerse themselves in great books. Keenan writes stories that reflect the beauty of Black culture in America and aims to create representation in children’s literature.

Sarah Warren is an award-winning children's book author. She is also the co-founder of Picture Book Parade, an organization that promotes literacy, love, and diverse local authors by hosting storytelling exhibits in unexpected places. You can find out more at sarahwbooks.com & picturebookparade.com
Sarah Warren is an award-winning children's book author. She is also the co-founder of Picture Book Parade, an organization that promotes literacy, love, and diverse local authors by hosting storytelling exhibits in unexpected places.

Thuba Nguyễn is an educator, author and community advocate. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE) with a focus on Special Needs and Leadership. Her children's book initiative is a grassroots movement that helped launch, sell, and distribute 1000 copies nationally and internationally. Thuba plays a key role in organizing a people-powered movement, resulting in instrumental support for the overall literacy mission and community networking. As a published children's book author, she works to promote early literacy development in young children within historically underrepresented communities and families. Thuba believes children’s books are becoming a cornerstone for social justice work among young students- and simply put, representation matters. She has traveled across the nation to visit schools and scholars from diverse backgrounds and language abilities, observing and learning more about their social justice models in education.

Notably, Nguyen toured schools on the East Coast in Philadelphia, Rhode Island, and Boston, presenting on the importance of writing and reading instruction for early and youth students, with a focus on cultural stories and storytelling. She also assisted the San Francisco Public Library in relaunching their family story time program. Her work education and philosophy approach centers on culturally responsive teaching, abolitionist teaching, Black feminism, and anti-bias and anti-racist pedagogy. Thuba enjoys reading and writing poetry, attending art shows, and lives in Coon Rapids with her partner and two dogs.