Torrey Maldonado was born and raised in in the Red Hook housing projects of Brooklyn, New York. He has been praised by two NYC Chancellors for being a top culturally responsive educator who has taught in Brooklyn public schools for close to thirty years. Maldonado stopped reading in second grade then was forced to repeat the third grade, partially because he felt books hated him so he unplugged from school. As a tween, he realized generations of neighbors and family also hated books for the same reason–books added unnecessary heaviness to their already heavy lives either through heavy page-count or heavily written stories. This results in an annual high school drop out rate of 40 % and more. To combat that, Torrey crafts his books and chapters to be short, fast-paced rollercoasters filled with diverse representation and his compelling stories are inspired by his and his students’ experiences. His popular novels Hands, Tight, and What Lane? are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections and Best Books of the Year. What Lane? garnered many starred reviews and was cited by Oprah and the New York Times for being an essential book to discuss racism and allyship; Tight won the Christopher Award, is an ALA Notable Book, and an NPR and Washington Post “Best Book of the Year”; Hands is a 2024 ALA/ALCS Notable Book, Black Caucus ALA Best of the Best Book, Jane Addams Finalist, Nerdy, Best Book of the Year for NY and Chicago Public Libraries, and won starred School Library Journal review and amazing reviews from Horn Book, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly. His very first novel, Secret Saturdays, has been in print for over ten years.
Learn more at torreymaldonado.com or connect on social media @torreymaldonado
