My all-time favorite narrator gave Holland, My Heart a lovely shout-out on Instagram. I’m giddy with love and gratitude.

The Real Joe Arden posted: Sometimes my company gets an opportunity to work with phenomenal first-time authors that believe in their stories and trust us to find the right voices to help bring that story to life. Meet Holland, My Heart… i think you’ll dig this story!

I responded: Thank you for believing in Holland, too, Joe! Working with y’all has been a dream come true. Here’s to many more books together!

Want to know why my all-time favorite narrator didn’t voice Kai? Because he promotes—through his own work and his production company—identity-conscious casting. Joe does not identify as Black or Samoan (Kai is both), so he helped me cast Brian Rivera who identifies as Pacific Islander. I love working with an anti-racist company. I hope you’ll support all of us (Blue Nose, Brian, Cindy Harden, me) by listening to Holland, My Heart. 💕