Wallflowers

Mackenzie Joy beautifully pairs her gorgeous illustrations with minimalist text in this heartwarming book that doesn’t just acknowledge shy children, but celebrates them—because every wallflower deserves their chance to grow. Perfect for fans of You Matter and Just Ask! 

People call you a wallflower.

Sometimes they call you shy. Sometimes they call you quiet, or maybe even scared. People think these are bad things, because sometimes they are LOUD.

But you are happy just the way you are. And maybe you don’t need to learn to be loud, they just need to learn to listen.

Mackenzie Joy beautifully pairs her gorgeous illustrations with minimalist text in this heartwarming book that doesn’t just acknowledge shy children, but celebrates them—because every wallflower deserves their chance to grow. 

Mackenzie Joy grew up in Northern California where she spent her time drawing, reading books, playing sports, and having outdoor adventures with her family. She received her MBA in 2014, and has worked in sustainability, analytics and data storytelling, user experience research and business strategy, and getting people early-morning coffees as a barista. As an artist, she loves to scribble and paint on nontraditional canvases like shoes, grandfather clocks, and matryoshka. As a writer, she enjoys feeling the rhythm of sentences and finding the perfect sounds and words. As a storyteller, she wants to share stories that are quirky, hopeful, and make you think. Wallflowers is her debut book as an author-illustrator. Mackenzie lives near Berkeley, California