The Two Tyrones

Tyrone Rashon Williams's excitement about the first day of school wanes when he sees that everyone is wearing the same new sneakers he is so proud of, but it gets worse when a new student arrives who has his exact same name.

Wade Hudson was born in 1946 in Mansfield, Louisiana. He attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and during the late 1960s and early 1970s worked for a number of civil rights organizations. In addition to writing for children, Hudson has also worked as a news reporter, a sports writer, and a public relations specialist. Hudson's first book for young readers, a collaborative effort with Valerie Wilson Wesley, focused on a subject very important to him: role models for young African Americans. Since then, he has written several books in the Black Heroes series of profiles, as well as picture books, nonfiction, and plays. He has edited two critically acclaimed collections: Pass It On: African-American Poetry for Children and How Sweet the Sound: African-American Songs for Children.

Hudson lives in New Jersey with his wife and frequent collaborator, Cheryl Willis Hudson. Together they run a publishing company, Just Us Books, which they founded in order to provide African-American children with positive images of themselves in books and learning materials.