Kaylani Juanita
Kaylani Juanita McCard, professionally known as Kaylani Juanita, is an illustrator. Her work focuses on activism, empowerment of people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. Her work has appeared in publications through Chronicle Books, Cicada Magazine, and Lee & Low Books.
Kaylani Juanita
San Francisco Public Library · Author: Kaylani Juanita with Lisa Brown · CC BY 3.0
- Name
- Kaylani Juanita
- Birth Name
- Kaylani Juanita McCard
- Occupation
- Illustrator
- Nationality
- United States
- Education
- Solano Community College · California College of the Arts · University of California and Davis
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Documentary summary
Kaylani Juanita McCard, professionally known as Kaylani Juanita, is an illustrator. Her work focuses on activism, empowerment of people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. Her work has appeared in publications through Chronicle Books, Cicada Magazine, and Lee & Low Books.
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Kaylani Juanita was an American illustrator. The illustrator studied at California College of the Arts, Solano Community College and University of California, Davis.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q78173560 · wikipedia · Kaylani Juanita
In this article
Biography
Biography
Her first book illustrated, Ta-Da! By Kathy Ellen Davis, was released by Chronicle Books and nominated for an Young Readers award via the 38th Annual Northern California Book Awards. In 2018, ELLE Magazine featured her work and interviewed her at length in context of her memorial illustrations based on the murder of Nia Wilson, a black woman who was fatally stabbed in a suspected hate crime while exiting a BART train. In 2017, she illustrated "9 Books for Woke Kids," an article by Guinevere de la Mare.
Author: Kaylani Juanita with Lisa Brown Kaylani Juanita is the SFPL 2021 Summer Stride featured artist, Coretta Scott King Book Award-honoree and illustrator of Ta-Da!. In this conversation with her former teacher, illustrator Lisa Brown, hear how they inspire and support each other. For kids and their families.
San Francisco Public Library · Author: Kaylani Juanita with Lisa Brown
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Kaylani Juanita • Birth Name — Kaylani Juanita McCard • Occupation — Illustrator
Education
Education
Juanita attended B. Gale Wilson Elementary School in Solano County's Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District as well as Rodriguez High School. While attending Rodriguez, Juanita spent a summer studying at CalArts. She then attended Solano College before transferring to California College of the Arts. She earned her BFA in Illustration from California College of the Arts. As of 2019, she is working on a Master's in Design at the University of California, Davis.
Personal life
Personal life
Juanita is based in Fairfield, CA and identifies as a mixed-race femme queer person.
When Aiden Became A Brother
When Aiden Became A Brother
Kaylani Jaunita and Kyle Lukoff published When Aiden Became a Brother in 2019. In 2020, the book was awarded the Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award, landed a top spot on the American Library Association Rainbow List, and was named a Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book.
Podcasts
Podcasts
• The Creativity Habit
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Penrose, Nerisha. How Kaylani Juanita Is Using Her Art and Instagram to Honor Nia Wilson. ELLE. July 26, 2018.
- 2.Starfruit | VQR Online. www.vqronline.org.
- 3.www.berkeleyside.com. Nominees. April 2023.
- 4.www.solano.edu. Inside Solano.
- 5.Woodrow, Melanie. 'He was wiping off his knife': BART stabbing victim recalls horrific attack that killed sister. ABC7 San Francisco. July 24, 2018.
- 6.Dakin Andone and Dan Simon. Officials still don't know why a white man allegedly stabbed a black woman to death in a subway station. CNN.
- 7.ago, Guinevere de la Mare • 2 years. 9 Books for Woke Kids to Read This Year. September 2025.
- 8.Kaylani Juanita | VQR Online. www.vqronline.org.
- 9.Kaylani Juanita. www.kaylanijuanita.com.
- 10.Kaylani Juanita, illustrator-The Creativity Habit Dead link. April 2023.
- 11."When Aidan Became a Brother" and "The Black Flamingo" win 2020 Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award. 27 January 2020.
- 12.The 2020 Rainbow Book List. Rainbow Book List.
- 13.Charlotte Huck Award (Fiction for Children).
Bibliography printed in the source article · 9
- Next Level: A Hymn in Gratitude for Neurodiversity by Samara Cole Doyon, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2024)
- Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chishom by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2023)
- Together We Swim by Valerie Bolling, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2023)
- Together We Ride by Valerie Bolling, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2022)
- A House for Every Bird by Megan Maynor, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita, (2021)
- Magnificent Homespun Brown by Samara Cole Doyon, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2020)
- When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2019)
- Watch Us Rise by Reneé Watson & Ellen Hagan, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2019)
- Ta-Da! by Kathy Ellen Davis, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2018)
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Kaylani Juanita is recorded as having studied at Solano Community College, California College of the Arts and University of California, Davis.
Activity and practice
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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