Stories have the power to shape and connect the world. Prattfolio’s 2026 Alumni Books highlights more than three dozen titles across formats and disciplines. Created by Pratt alumni, these works include a children’s picture book about the U.S. Constitution, a collection of portraits documenting the lives of Ugandan women, and a nonfiction account of how physicians and researchers saved lives during World War II.
Explore 2026 Alumni Books by theme:
- Picture Books and Graphic Novels
- Artist Books and Monographs
- Photography
- Social Engagement and Advocacy
- Nonfiction and Memoir
- Fiction
- Architecture and Design
Are you a Pratt alum with news about a recent publication? Send your update to classnotes@pratt.edu.
Picture Books and Graphic Novels

Black Girl, Bloom Bright (Roaring Brook Press)
Mahogany L. Browne, MFA Writing ’16, author
Black Girl, Bloom Bright features vibrant illustrations by Sawyer Cloud and the poetry of Mahogany L. Browne. Browne’s previous works for young readers include Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and Kirkus Best Picture Book of the Year. School Library Journal calls Black Girl, Bloom Bright “an inspiring call to Black children everywhere” that “expresses the beauty of what it means to be a Black girl.” Available from us.macmillan.com.

Freedom to Read: The Story of Teacher Mary Peake and One Mighty Oak Tree (Beach Lane/Wiseman)
Lesa Cline-Ransome, BFA Fashion Merchandising ’87 (author)
James Ransome, BFA Communications Design (Illustration) ’87 (illustrator)
This picture book biography follows Mary Peake, who risked punishment to run a secret school for Black children in pre-Civil War Virginia—first in her home, then under an oak tree at a Union camp. Husband-and-wife team Lesa Cline-Ransome and James Ransome, a Newbery Honor author and ALA Children’s Literature Legacy Award recipient, collaborated on the text and watercolor illustrations. Available from simonandschuster.com.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Sheepy: A Sleepy Sheepy Story (Flamingo Books)
Lucy Ruth Cummins, BFA Communications Design (Graphic Design) ’05 (author)
“Twinkle, twinkle little sheep / now it’s time to get some sleep.” The energetic lamb Sleepy Sheepy once again battles bedtime only to succumb to slumber in this rhyming board book from author-illustrator duo Lucy Ruth Cummins and Pete Oswald. It follows previous series installments Sleepy Sheepy, Sleepy Sheepy and the Sheepover, and Creepy Sheepy. Available from penguinrandomhouse.com.

Oxette: The Power of Two (Pasture Pine Press)
Lea Patrice Fales, MFA Fine Arts ’16
The book explores the importance of both persistence and asking for help through the eyes of Virginia, a cow tasked with removing stones from a field. Lea Patrice Fales previously authored Oxette, which animal behavioralist Temple Grandin described as “a wonderful book which will motivate children to care for animals.” Available from pasturepinepress.com.

We’re Not Weird: Structure and Function in the Animal Kingdom (Holiday House)
Michael Garland, BFA Communications Design ’74
The educational picture book We’re Not Weird by Michael Garland celebrates nature’s most odd-looking creatures. Readers will learn how the saiga antelope’s large nose protects it from dust, how the long spines of the orb-weaving spider help it protect itself, how tentacles help jellyfish capture food, and more. Available from penguinrandomhouse.com.
Serious Fun!: Work & Play with Charles & Ray Eames (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House)
Reaching Across the Sky: A Celebration of Bridges (Christy Ottaviano Books/Little, Brown and Company)
Bibi Steps Out! (Candlewick Press)
Christy Hale, BFA Communications Design ’86
Christy Hale wrote and illustrated two new books. Serious Fun!: Work & Play with Charles & Ray Eames celebrates midcentury design’s most famous power couple. Reaching Across the Sky: A Celebration of Bridges underscores the awe-inspiring power of human innovation. Hale also collaborated with author Roni Schotter on Bibi Steps Out!, which tells the story of a shy, artistic girl who makes friends transforming a neglected rail trail into a vibrant park. Learn more at christyhale.com.

About My Brother
Todd Oscar Harris, BID ’01 (illustrator)
Kathleen Mooney, BFA Film ’01 (author)
Based on the childhood experiences of Kathleen Mooney, About My Brother is written from the perspective of an eight-year-old whose brother Kevin has recently experienced a traumatic brain injury. Mooney, an early childhood educator, wrote the book to foster empathy and inclusion. She collaborated with Atlanta-based illustrator Todd Oscar Harris to bring Kevin’s story to life. Learn more at kathleenemooney.com.

Canticos La Vaca Lola: Lola the Cow (Encantos)
Susie Jaramillo, BFA Communications Design ’95
This interactive bilingual board book brings the classic nursery rhyme “La Vaca Lola” to life with colorful illustrations and multimedia singalong content. The Emmy-nominated Canticos series, which includes over 50 titles, is produced by Encantos Media, a public benefit corporation founded by Susie Jaramillo to bring the songs of her youth to a new generation. Available from Encantos.

Basket Ball: The Story of the All-American Game (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Kadir Nelson, BFA Communications Design ’96
Kadir Nelson has authored and illustrated more than 30 children’s picture books, earning him the American Library Association’s 2026 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. In Basket Ball: The Story of the All-American Game, Nelson celebrates more than a century of basketball history and iconic star players including Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry. Available from hachettebookgroup.com.

We Are Free: Our First Amendment Rights (Rise x Penguin Workshop)
Edel Rodriguez, BFA Fine Arts ’94 (illustrator)
Timed to the 250th anniversary of the United States, We Are Free introduces young readers to the freedoms outlined in the First Amendment. Through vivid illustrations by Edel Rodriguez and commentary from attorney and educator Allison Matiulli, the book explores what it means to speak, gather, and express beliefs in the United States. Available from penguinrandomhouse.com.

Night Chef: An Epic Tale of Friendship with a Side of Deliciousness! (Random House Graphic)
Mika Song, BFA Film ’02
In this children’s graphic novel written and illustrated by Mika Song, a lonely raccoon chef must leave the confines of the restaurant where she secretly lives to reunite a baby crow with his family. It was named a “best book of the year” by Publishers Weekly and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. Available at penguinrandomhouse.com.
Artist Books and Monographs

Derrick Adams (Monacelli)
Derrick Adams, BFA Art and Design Education ’96
Multidisciplinary artist Derrick Adams is best known for his vibrant, collage-inspired paintings celebrating contemporary Black life. The first monograph to survey his 25-year career, Derrick Adams features more than 150 works. It was published in advance of the major exhibition View Master, on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston through September 7, 2026, with a presentation at the Queens Museum scheduled for fall 2027. Available at phaidon.com.

TXTreader 4: Real Life Reader
TXTbooks (Robert Blair, Rose Wong, Kurt Woerpel, all BFA Communications Design ’14; Nichole Shinn, BFA Fine Arts ’14; Thomas Colligan, BFA Communications Design ’15) (publisher)
Robert Blair ’14 and Kurt Woerpel ’14 (editors)
Alyssa Kazew, BFA Communications Design ’13, Robert Blair ’14, Madison Jamar, BFA Writing ’17, Jack Vhay, BFA Communications Design ’18, Yinan Lin, BFA Communications Design ’25 (contributors)
The latest brainchild from artist-run independent publisher TXTbooks is TXTreader 4: Real Life Reader, a “megazine” that brings together zines by more than a dozen contributors into a single bound volume. Together, the zines create a collective celebration of the joys of summer and unplugging from the digital world. Available from txtbooks.us.

Greer Lankton: Could It Be Love (Magic Hour Press)
Greer Lankton, BFA Fine Arts ’81
An icon of the East Village art scene of the 1980s, artist Greer Lankton (1958–1996) is known for her lifelike dolls and soft sculptures. The first monograph dedicated to Lankton’s work, Could It Be Love, features 100 photographs that Lankton captured of the dolls posed in scenes of everyday life–watching television, visiting a hair salon, and smoking cigarettes on the beach–and text by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Hilton Als. Available from magichour.press.

Otherwise Engaged: Weekly Collages from the Year 2020
Elaine Norman, BFA Fine Arts ’72
Elaine Norman continued her series of personal collage books with the publication of Otherwise Engaged: Weekly Collages from the Year 2020. Norman also created the cover art for the book How Do You Wear The Universe?: Poems & Essays: 2002–2025 by Steve Zeitlin. Available from blurb.com.

Aquabet (Dear Friend Press)
Anna Sergeeva, MSLIS ’22
Artist and bookseller Anna Sergeeva excavates the origins of the alphabet and the languages and systems built on top of it. Sergeeva proposes replacing it with a new hydroglyphic system based on water, which she calls “the aquabet.” Aquabet is the first title from Sergeeva’s independent publishing project Dear Friend Press. Available at dearfriendpress.com.
Photography

HeadStrong: The Women of Rural Uganda (Kehrer Verlag)
Dan Nelken, BFA Graphic Art and Design ’69
In HeadStrong: The Women of Rural Uganda, Dan Nelken brings together portraits and personal stories from a group of working women in rural Uganda who share life stories shaped by war, kidnapping, family duties, faith, and resilience. It features contributions from Stella Nyanzi, Beatrice Lamwaka, and Ber Anan. Learn more at dannelken.com.

LIKENESS: Self-Portraits by Janet Neuhauser (Minor Matters)
Janet Neuhauser, MFA Fine Arts ’85
Janet Neuhauser (1952–2026) completed her final project, LIKENESS: Self-Portraits, shortly before her death from a neurological illness in March 2026. The monograph encapsulates Neuhauser’s three-decade self-portraiture practice, demonstrating the inexhaustible possibilities of the photographic medium. Available from Minor Matters.

Wonderland: Brooklyn 2007–2023 (Kehrer Verlag)
Valery Rizzo, BFA Communications Design ’88
Following an illness that limited her mobility, Valery Rizzo adopted plastic toy cameras to spontaneously capture everyday life in Brooklyn. Wonderland: Brooklyn 2007–2023 chronicles a changing borough and a wide range of residents, from J’ouvert celebrants to Revolutionary War reenactors. Available from kehrerverlag.com.

Coney Island Ink: Portraits of the Coney Island Tattoo Festival (Goff Books)
Thomas Santelli, BFA Fine Arts ’74
Before New York City legalized tattooing in 1997, Thomas Santelli served as the “unofficial photographer” at the Annual Coney Island Tattoo Festival, an underground event that took place on Brooklyn’s iconic boardwalk. This volume collects more than 230 photographic portraits from those events, alongside essays exploring the art of tattooing. Available at goffbooks.com.
Social Engagement and Advocacy

Black Power in the Age of Artificial Supremacy
New Identities: Unmasking Male Racist Transphobia
Rob Redding, MFA Fine Arts ’22
Cultural critic, educator, and artist Rob Redding recently published two books. New Identities: Unmasking Male Racist Transphobia explores the complexities of identity politics. Black Power in the Age of Artificial Supremacy, which includes a chapter from Redding’s spouse Redding-Shim Kwet Yung, is a manifesto that challenges narratives surrounding artificial intelligence, race, and systematic oppression. Learn more at robredding.com.

Liberalism’s Environmental Promise (SUNY Press)
José Rodeiro, MFA Fine Arts ’73 (cover illustrator)
José Rodeiro has his painting Momotombo Volcano with a Field and a Jungle featured on the cover of Liberalism’s Environmental Promise, a book authored by his son, Manuel Rodeiro. Rodeiro’s paintings have also recently appeared on the covers of the poetry collections Variations in Blue by Adela Najarro, Before the Aftermath by Paul B. Roth, and Coyote Woman by Silvia Scheibli. Available from SUNY Press.

Empathy Impact: The Wild Effects of Kindness in Action (Sulit Press)
Avery Toomes, BFA Writing ’22
Avery Toomes contributed an essay to Empathy Impact: The Wild Effects of Kindness in Action, highlighting stories of how acts of empathy created change in individual lives and communities. Proceeds of the book are donated to Louder Than Silence, a nonprofit offering free therapy and support services to survivors of sexual violence. Learn more at sulitpress.com.

Lemurs in Art (Lemur Conservation Foundation)
Camille Wainer, BFA Communications Design ’02
Featuring artwork and animation by Camille Wainer, the limited-edition art book Lemurs in Art was published by the Lemur Conservation Foundation to raise awareness of issues that threaten the future of Madagascar wildlife. Wainer’s flash animation MadagaSCARS is held in the Foundation’s permanent collection. Learn more at lemurreserve.org.
Nonfiction and Memoir

Storyteller: Tales from a Fashion Insider (Pointed Leaf Press)
Jeffrey Banks, Fashion Design (1971–1973)
Award-winning sportswear designer Jeffrey Banks shares his recollections of a life in fashion in Storyteller: Tales from a Fashion Insider. Banks, who studied fashion design at Pratt in the early ’70s, secured an internship with Ralph Lauren at age 17, founded his eponymous menswear label in 1977, and enjoyed friendships with icons including Audrey Hepburn, Bobby Short, and Barbra Streisand. Available from simonandschuster.com.

Inspired by Cats: Writers and Their Mews(es) (Countryman Press)
Bob Eckstein, BFA Communications Design ’85
Mark Twain, Colette, Ernest Hemingway, Ray Bradbury, and Toni Morrison are among the authors whose relationships to their feline companions are explored in Inspired by Cats, which features historical anecdotes and charming illustrations from Bob Eckstein. A New Yorker cartoonist and bestselling author, Eckstein’s previous titles include The Complete Book of Cat Names (That Your Cat Won’t Answer to, Anyway). Available from wwnorton.com.

The Life Savers of World War II
Wendy Schoenbach Reasenberg, MID ’65
Wendy Schoenbach Reasenberg highlights the often-overlooked contributions of the Army Epidemiological Board in controlling infectious diseases. The Life Savers of World War II, based on the story of her father, Emanuel “Manny” Schoenbach, was cowritten with her niece Anna Kade Schoenbach. Kirkus Reviews described the book as “a rousing saga of the anti-microbial front, full of compelling scientific lore and energetic writing.” Learn more at epidemiolog.net.
Fiction

Rule 25: Don’t Fall for the Target (Bow’s Bookshelf)
Charleigh Frederick, BFA Writing ’24
The young adult thriller Rule 25: Don’t Fall for the Target follows teen Autumn as she is sent out on her first solo mission for her crime family, but finds herself unwillingly drawn to the reclusive millionaire’s son who she’s responsible for spying on. Charleigh Frederick shared, “This book is about family, love, and struggles of deciding when to trust your family, and when to find your own path.” Available from bowsbookshelf.com.

Flat Earth (Catapult)
Anika Jade Levy, BFA Writing ’17
Anika Jade Levy was recognized by the National Book Foundation as a “5 Under 35” honoree for her debut novel, which focuses on a young woman who envies her beautiful, wealthy best friend. The New York Times described Flat Earth as “funny and sharp.” Available from Catapult.

The Parade (April Gloaming Publishing)
Ben Miller, MFA Writing ’26
Winner of the Moon Meridian Novella award, The Parade by Ben Miller tells the story of Tove, a child who breaks from a community built around a never-ending procession honoring their community’s flag and all it symbolizes. Author Dean King describes the novel as “a breathless, wildly imaginative, dystopian romp.” Available from aprilgloaming.com.

Next Stop – Unknown (BookLocker)
Rick Pascal, BCE ’63
The short stories in the collection Next Stop – Unknown span sci-fi, dark fantasy, and gothic horror, all infused with an eerie atmosphere and shocking twists. Rick Pascal is also the author of the previous collection Detour: Incredible Tales That Take You Off the Main Road. Available from BookLocker.

A Final Harvest (Outskirts Press)
Bruce Southard, BFA Communications Design ’81
Bruce Southard published his novel A Final Harvest. He shared, “For all of us who dream about a return to the land and the simple good life we knew, this novel provides unflinching, informative, and sometimes humorous detail on the work that life required. It is a coming-of-age story as well as a story of aging and the end of life in modern-day America.” Available from Outskirts Press.

The Big Bad Blockbusters (Legacy Book Press)
Lou Storey, BFA Fine Arts ’76; MFA Fine Arts (Painting) ’83
Lou Storey authored a novel based on his years working as an exhibition designer at the New York Public Library. The Big Bad Blockbusters focuses on a team charged with turning around the fortunes of a cash-strapped cultural institution through popular exhibitions. He shares, “It is a book about creative work: the belief it requires, the toll it takes, and the unexpected families it builds.” Learn more at loustorey.com.
Architecture and Design

Architecture Through Dialogue: Per Se (YEM Publishing)
Ali Derya Dostoğlu, MS Architecture and Urban Design ’11
Ali Derya Dostoğlu is a founding partner at Per Se, an Istanbul-based architectural firm that recently marked its 10th anniversary. The publication traces the firm’s trajectory from its founding to the present day, with a focus that expands beyond completed buildings to also reveal the process and design thinking behind them. Available from yemkitabevi.com.

The In-House Graphic Designer’s Survival Guide: How creatives can survive and thrive in a corporate environment
Jennifer Mariotti, BFA Communications Design ’93
What skills can help creatives to thrive in the corporate world? Jennifer Mariotti shares advice distilled from 30 years working as a designer and leader at global market research and data analytics firms, with pointers covering topics ranging from interpreting feedback to securing promotions. Learn more at authorjennifermariotti.com.

Architectural Fantasies: Artist-Built Environments (Tra Publishing)
Fred Scruton, MFA Photography ’81
Across the United States, artists have built, modified, and decorated an array of structures, from the Coral Castle in Miami to the Watts Tower in Los Angeles. Fred Scruton completed the principal photography for Architectural Fantasies: Artist-Built Environments by Jo Farb Hernández, a comprehensive study of more than 60 such monuments, devotional sites, and dwellings. Available at trapublishing.com.