Tucsonan's books featured at Obama Presidential Center

“I thought all kids should be able to see themselves in books,” she recalls, and today those same kids can see themselves somewhere they never dreamed: in the newly opened Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

Nelson’s two recent picture books, “Hazel’s Best Day” and “Oshún and Me,” can now be found in the Obama Center Library, and she still isn’t sure if she should laugh or cry.

She did both when remembering the day she got the news.

“I kinda short-circuited for a minute when I first heard,” Nelson confessed. “I was like, ‘What?!’ I’m descended from slaves on both sides. My grandmother didn’t learn how to write her name until my aunt was in high school. To think that my work is worthy enough to be in the Obama library … it’s still a little hard to believe.”

The senior coordinator of the MLK Dream Student Space at the University of Arizona, Nelson was with a group of students when her phone chirped six weeks ago.

“I’d been tagged on a Threads alert from Alleanna Harris, who illustrated ‘Oshún and Me,’” Nelson recalled. “She was excited to share the news that her book was in the Obama Center library. I thought, ‘Wait, that’s my book, too!'”

Nelson soon learned that “Hazel’s Best Day,” released earlier this year, was also in the collection.

Both books feature young Black girls who use wheelchairs. Both celebrate the power of inclusion and belonging.

“The Obamas represent so much to me and the Black community, I just feel doubly blessed,” Nelson said. “I can’t wait to visit Chicago and spend some time in the library myself.”

Appropriately enough, given former President Barack Obama’s love of books, the library is located in the heart of the center’s 19-acre campus. It functions as a branch of the Chicago Public Library, and the entire collection connects in some way to the president’s life and his work.

Yes We Can, meet Adiba Nelson.

When she could not find a book that spoke to her disabled daughter, she wrote one.

When mainstream publishers shrugged their collective shoulders, Nelson published it herself.

Now, 15 years later, her books can be found in libraries across the country, including the Obama Center.

Born in New York City, Nelson moved with her mom to Tucson when Adiba was 11.

She learned to love writing at Doolen Middle School and began seeing herself as a writer while at Amphi.

Still, the urge to author a book did not fully take form until after the birth of her daughter, who was born with cerebral palsy.

“When I started reading to her, we went looking for books about kids like her,” Nelson recalled. “I asked if they had any books about disabled children. This was 2011, and they all said no. Well, how about little Black girls. Again, no. Well, I got angry. I went home and wrote Emory a story in about 10 minutes. It was a rinky-dink little story about a Black girl in a pink dress and a wheelchair, but to her it was a book. She loved it.”

That “rinky-dink little story” would later evolve into a picture book called “Meet ClaraBelle Blue” — self- published by Nelson in 2013 — and while ClaraBelle did not find her way onto any bestseller lists, she did give the author a voice.

In and around Tucson, Nelson became a well-known advocate for inclusion and accessibility.

She wrote stories that appeared in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Parents and Parents Latina. She gave TEDx talks at the UA.

Nelson received glowing reviews for “Ain’t That a Mother,” a memoir released in 2022 by Blackstone, and by the following year she had contracted to write two children’s books for Macmillan.

The first, “Oshún and Me,” introduces a young girl to the West African spirituality known to her Puerto Rican grandparents.

We meet Oshún, the Yoruban goddess of beauty and love who is often celebrated by Beyonce. In Nelson’s book, Oshún’s presence is assured by the cowrie shells clipped to young Yadiri’s braids.

“Hazel’s Best Day” features a joyous young girl who is headed to a Disability Pride Parade. Nelson knows the main character well.

“Hazel is really special to me, she’s just like my daughter,” Nelson laughed. “Hazel Jones, a little Black girl just full of moxie, energy and sass. I love Hazel. I wanted to make sure people saw her, and not the wheelchair.”

The coming year will be a busy one, Nelson says. She has two more picture books to do. She is tinkering with a first novel, working at the university, helping Emory navigate her senior year of high school.

Still, she is enjoying the moment.

“There’s a saying that we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” Nelson said. “Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if I’m dreaming, too.”

Footnotes 

• The Homeward Books Collective, a left-leaning bookshop run by four friends who once worked together at Bookmans, is now open at its new location: 2921 E. Fort Lowell Road. A “grand re-opening” is scheduled for next Saturday, Aug. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. To check the store’s hours and learn more, visit homewardbooksaz.com.
• With the annual Sealey Challenge now well underway, the University of Arizona Poetry Center will host a poetry book-swap this coming Thursday, Aug. 14, at Bar Cristol downtown. The event will go from 6 to 8 p.m. To learn more, visit poetry.arizona.edu.
• The Tucson Festival of Books is now accepting submissions for its 15th annual Literary Awards Writing Competition. Cash prizes of $1,000, $500 and $250 will be awarded to the top three entries in fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Winners will also be onstage at the next festival, March 13-14, 2027. To learn more, visit tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.