Who’s Jesse?

Jesse Byrd is a 33-year-old African-American children’s book creator and dual-native of California and Louisiana.

At 6 feet 8 inches tall, Jesse paid for his college education playing basketball at one of the top 10 Public Academic Universities in the country (UC Santa Barbara).

After 3 years working on a secret project for Google at their headquarters in California, Jesse decided to pursue his true love of creating stories for readers young and old.

Jesse’s debut novel, King Penguin, was highly praised and won awards at both the Los Angeles and Paris Annual Book Festivals, placing top 10 for the year in its category. His two picture books: “Sunny Days” and “Real Jungle Tales” have received awards in four major competitions worldwide.

His next storytelling adventures include:

DREAM CATCHER | a book about the magical beings that keep our dreams sweet and protect us from the Bad Dreams. But, what happens when they make a mistake?

BASKETBALL ABCs | The first basketball ABC book that’s inclusive of gender, race, age and people who are differently-abled. The goal is to reflect the wide spectrum of people all over the globe from different walks of life who enjoy the game.

STUFF | A picture book about a kid named Luca who has the best toys, games and stuffed animals in the world. Or, so he thinks until he spots a kid with newer, shinier, fancier stuff.

SANTA’S SECRET SHOPPERS | A story about the team who flies around the world to pick up the raw materials Santa needs to make gifts.

Jesse’s favorites are french toast with sliced strawberries, reading, writing, film, video games, and freshly popped popcorn.

You can purchase Jesse’s stories HERE + on Amazon

You can join Jesse for storytime (via AirBnB Experiences) or book a private STORY TIME READING and VISUAL PRESENTATION for your school, group or family!