Jewell Parker Rhodes is an American novelist and professor.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Rhodes grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood. She was an avid reader as a child. Rhodes received her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. Rhodes's debut novel, Voodoo Dreams, was published in 1993. Rhodes followed the release with five more adult novels and three nonfiction books. Since 2010 Rhodes has focused on writing middle-grade novels, many of which center on issues of social justice in Black communities.
A New York Times bestselling author, Rhodes has received the American Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Honor Award, and the Octavia E. Butler Award, among other honors. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Arizona State University's Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and Narrative Studies.
At the center of Black Brother, Black Brother is a core dichotomy between the main characters of the novel (who happen to be brothers). Donte presents as Black, while his brother Trey presents as white. Despite coming from the same family and...
Jewell Parker Rhodes's Ghost Boys is a 2018 middle-grade novel about Jerome Rogers, a twelve-year-old Black boy in Chicago who is shot dead by a white police officer. The novel takes a mystical turn when Jerome becomes a ghost and learns about his...
