Matt de la Pena Speaks Loudly

Matt de la Pena is fighting the removal of his books from classrooms in Arizona directly, according to SLJ: "Author Matt de la Peña is taking a more hands-on approach: he's using his $1,000 speaking fee to purchase copies of his novel Mexican WhiteBoy(Delacorte, 2008) for the Tucson High Magnet School, where he's scheduled to appear on March 13. "I'm using my honorarium of $1,000 to give the students books, and Random House is donating some, too," de la Peña says from his home in Brooklyn, NY. "I think it's going to be cool."

I first met Matt a few years ago at NCTE when he, Chris Crutcher, and I did a panel on sports literature.  He's a terrific speaker and as evidenced, willing to put his money where is mouth is.