Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Book Smugglers’ Quarterly Almanac, Volume 3 |
2017 |
Buy |
Avatar Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| James Cameron’s Avatar: Tsu’tey’s Path |
2019 |
N/A |
| Avatar: The Next Shadow |
2021 |
Buy |
| Avatar: The High Ground |
2023 |
Buy |
| Avatar: The High Ground Library Edition |
1993 |
N/A |
Avatar Graphic Novels Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Avatar: Tsu’tey’s Path |
2019 |
Buy |
| Avatar: The High Ground, Volume 1 |
2022 |
Buy |
| Avatar: The High Ground, Volume 2 |
2023 |
Buy |
| Avatar: The High Ground, Volume 3 |
2023 |
Buy |
Children’s#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| My Little Golden Book About Misty Copeland |
2022 |
Buy |
Graphic Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Disney Villains: Ursula and the Seven Seas |
2021 |
Buy |
| Pearl |
2024 |
Buy |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| American Wings: Chicago’s Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky |
2024 |
Buy |
Standalone Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Lucy the Giant |
2002 |
Buy |
| Sparrow |
2006 |
Buy |
| Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet |
2008 |
Buy |
| Flygirl |
2009 |
Buy |
| Orleans |
2013 |
Buy |
| The Toymaker’s Apprentice |
2015 |
Buy |
| Pasadena |
2016 |
Buy |
| The Blossom and the Firefly |
2020 |
Buy |
What Was…? Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| What Was the Hindenburg? |
2013 |
Buy |
| What Was the Battle of Gettysburg? |
2013 |
Buy |
| What Was the Gold Rush? |
2013 |
Buy |
| What Was the March on Washington? |
2013 |
Buy |
| What Was the Boston Tea Party? |
2013 |
Buy |
| What Was Pearl Harbor? |
2013 |
Buy |
| What Was the Alamo? |
2013 |
Buy |
| What Was the Underground Railroad? |
2013 |
Buy |
| What Was Pompeii? |
2014 |
Buy |
| What Was Ellis Island? |
2014 |
Buy |
| What Is the Statue of Liberty? |
2014 |
Buy |
| What Is the Panama Canal? |
2014 |
Buy |
| What Was the Lewis and Clark Expedition? |
2014 |
Buy |
| What Was D-Day? |
2015 |
Buy |
| What Is the World Series? |
2015 |
Buy |
| What Was Hurricane Katrina? |
2015 |
Buy |
| What Were the Salem Witch Trials? |
2015 |
Buy |
| What Is the Super Bowl? |
2015 |
Buy |
| What Was the Great Depression? |
2015 |
Buy |
| What Was Woodstock? |
2016 |
Buy |
| What Are the Summer Olympics? |
2016 |
Buy |
| What Is the Declaration of Independence? |
2016 |
Buy |
| What Were the Twin Towers? |
2016 |
Buy |
| What Was the Great Chicago Fire? |
2016 |
Buy |
| What Was the San Francisco Earthquake? |
2016 |
Buy |
| What Was the Age of the Dinosaurs? |
2017 |
Buy |
| What Was the Wild West? |
2017 |
Buy |
| What Is Rock and Roll? |
2017 |
Buy |
| What Was the Ice Age? |
2017 |
Buy |
| What Are the Ten Commandments? |
2017 |
Buy |
| What Is the World Cup? |
2018 |
Buy |
| What Was the Titanic? |
2018 |
Buy |
| What Was the Holocaust? |
2018 |
Buy |
| What Is Climate Change? |
2018 |
Buy |
| What Is the Constitution? |
2018 |
Buy |
| What Is the Women’s Rights Movement? |
2018 |
Buy |
| What Were the Roaring Twenties? |
2018 |
Buy |
| What Is the Stanley Cup? |
2019 |
Buy |
| What Was Stonewall? |
2019 |
Buy |
| What Is NASA? |
2019 |
Buy |
| What Was the Vietnam War? |
2019 |
Buy |
| What Was the Berlin Wall? |
2019 |
Buy |
| What Were the Negro Leagues? |
2019 |
Buy |
| What Are the Paralympic Games? |
2020 |
Buy |
| What Was the Bombing of Hiroshima? |
2020 |
Buy |
| What Is LEGO? |
2020 |
Buy |
| What Is a Presidential Election? |
2020 |
Buy |
| What Is the Civil Rights Movement? |
2020 |
Buy |
| What Is Nintendo? |
2021 |
Buy |
| What Was the Age of Exploration? |
2021 |
Buy |
| What Is Congress? |
2021 |
Buy |
| What Is Black Lives Matter? |
2021 |
Buy |
| What Are the Winter Olympics? |
2021 |
Buy |
| What Was the Plague? |
2021 |
Buy |
| What Was the Harlem Renaissance? |
2021 |
Buy |
| What Are Castles and Knights? |
2022 |
Buy |
| What Is Juneteenth? |
2022 |
Buy |
| What Is the AIDS Crisis? |
2022 |
Buy |
| What Is the Supreme Court? |
2022 |
Buy |
| What Was Reconstruction? |
2022 |
Buy |
| What Is the Women’s World Cup? |
2023 |
Buy |
| What Was the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921? |
2023 |
Buy |
| What Was World War I? |
2023 |
Buy |
| What Was the Donner Party? |
2023 |
Buy |
| What Was the Children’s Blizzard of 1888? |
2023 |
Buy |
Sherri L. Smith writes across a wide range of formats, from young adult novels to graphic novels to educational nonfiction for kids. Her standalone fiction often explores questions of identity, race, and belonging set against specific historical periods. Flygirl, her most widely read novel, follows a light-skinned Black woman navigating segregation in the WWII-era military, while The Blossom and the Firefly is set in Japan during the final days of the same war.
Beyond her original fiction, Smith has been a prolific contributor to the What Was…? series, penning 65 installments that cover subjects from the Hindenburg to the Harlem Renaissance. She has also written graphic novels set in the Avatar universe, a Disney Villains graphic novel about Ursula, and the nonfiction title American Wings about Chicago’s pioneering Black aviators. Her debut novel, Lucy the Giant (2002), set the tone for her career with its focus on young protagonists facing difficult circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Sherri L. Smith written?
Sherri L. Smith has written 86 books across eight series.
What was Sherri L. Smith's first book?
Sherri L. Smith’s first book is Avatar: The High Ground Library Edition, published in 1993.
What is Sherri L. Smith best known for?
Smith is best known for her novel Flygirl (2009), which tells the story of a young Black woman who passes as white to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II. She has also written dozens of books in the What Was…? educational nonfiction series for young readers.