Breanna J. McDaniel

Breanna J. McDaniel (she/her/hers) is an emerging creative and early career scholar. She is the author of Hands Up!, published by Dial Books in 2019, which has received widespread recognition:

• Named one of “Books All Young Georgians Should Read” by the Georgia Center for the Book (2019)
• Listed in the Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books for kids (2019)
• Awarded the 2021 First Novelist Honor Book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and School Library Journal

Breanna is the co-founder of REIYL and STARYL. She completed her PhD in the UK, where her dissertation focused on the surveillance of Black children depicted as food. The manuscript was longlisted for the 2024 Global Black Women’s Nonfiction Manuscript Prize.

As a researcher, Breanna explores access to literacy for Global Majority families, critical food studies in education and children’s literature, and surveillance in contemporary children's media.