Emily Holyoak, MFA
Author and poet of queer + neurodiverse children’s books
Good Morning, Dinah
Senior year — not the biggest deal in the world, right? Except that it is, because everything is changing. Most seniors worry about their dates for school dances, soaking up final memories with friends, and planning life after graduation. Seventeen-year-old Dinah Finlayson has other worries, like students brushing against her and her autism service dog, Higgins; like winning board game matches in the disability classroom; and like opening up to a new student, Maverick Wright.
Maverick asks too many strange questions, and Dinah is scared of everything that could go wrong by letting this mysterious guy become part of her routine. That is, until he becomes her first best friend. But the moment Dinah makes Maverick part of her schedule, he disappears, changing everything in Dinah’s life and sending her into a downward spiral. Was the risk of letting change enter her life worth it? Now that senior year is ruined forever, Dinah can’t possibly imagine braving the halls of high school for one more day, let alone finishing senior year — or can she?
Published December 2022 by Includas LLC
About the Author / Poet
Emily is a neurodivergent author, mom, caregiver, gamer, and avid reader. Originally hailing from Logan, Utah, she’s since followed her best friend / husband around the country for the U.S. Air Force, settling in Northern California. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a Bachelor’s Degree in Professional and Creative Writing from Central Washington University. She’s a member of the International Women’s Writer’s Guild, The Poetry Society of America, the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and PFLAG. Her creative goals include helping neurodivergent and queer kids see themselves on bookshelves. Her ultmiate goal is to become a library-haunting ghost so she can finally read every book in her to-be-read pile.