Jolene Gutiérrez has been a teacher-librarian at a school for neurodivergent learners since 1995 and she identifies as neurodivergent as well. She loves teaching her students to be critical thinkers and supporting them as they practice researching skills. She has a Master’s degree in Library Science and Jolene and her library have been recognized by the Colorado Department of Education as a Highly Effective Schools Through Libraries award-winning library. Jolene has served as a mentor teacher for graduate students and as president of the Colorado Independent School Librarians. Jolene is the author of eight books with more in the works. Her book Too Much! An Overwhelming Day is based on her own sensory processing disorder and has been translated into seven different languages.
Upcoming books include The Ofrenda That We Built, a picture book co-authored with her daughter (Chronicle, 2024), If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility (Candlewick, 2024), Mamiachi and Me, a picture book co-authored with her son (Abrams Appleseed, 2025), and Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp, co-authored with Minoru Tonai (Abrams, 2025). Learn more at https://www.jolenegutierrez.com/.
