Author and Advocate Dhonielle Clayton Wants Kids to See Themselves in Books (Exclusive)

Dhonielle Clayton saw more of the world as a child than some people may see in a lifetime. The bestselling author, a Maryland native, grew up traveling to the places where her father lived growing up in a military family, including Guam, Korea and Germany. During the summers, Clayton visited her grandparents in Mississippi, or went on exchange program trips across Europe.

“I would just have my calling card and my books and my suitcase,” Clayton tells PEOPLE. “[My father] would ship me off, and it was great. I got to meet so many different kinds of people from all over the world, and it helped shape my worldview.”

Her travels, along with her childhood love of novels like A Wrinkle in Time and The Hobbit, also helped to shape the Conjureverse, Clayton’s hit middle grade fantasy book series; the third novel, The Deadly Fates, was published on March 4.

But the Conjureverse series was also born out of an encounter that happened in Clayton’s adopted home of New York City. For years, she worked as a school librarian in East Harlem where, one day, a fourth grade student asked for a book about a “magic school for all of the kids,” including American students and students of color.

“I took that challenge very seriously,” Clayton says. “Every kid on the planet deserves magic, and deserves a magic school that they could get an invitation to, no matter where their country of origin, where they were born, who they are, who their parents are.”

Centered on the Arcanum Training Institute, a school in the sky for kids around the world with magical abilities, the series centers young protagonist Ella Durand. Originally from New Orleans, Ella is the first Conjuror to attend the institute, which had previously only taught Marvellors.

Though Ella immediately feels like an outcast in her new environment, with the help of her friends Jason and Brigit, she comes into her abilities over the course of the series. The Deadly Fates follows the trio during their third year at the school, as they navigate the growing tensions among the magical population.

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But Clayton received pushback about the book series, which debuted with The Marvellers in 2022, and was followed by The Memory Thieves in 2023.

“When I first tried to publish this series, people told me, ‘No way. There’s no way you’ll ever be able to get it out there. No one wants a new magic school. There’s only one,’’ she says.

“I realized that when you don’t see yourself on the pages of books, even in secondary characters that have prominent roles, even within the fabric of the universe, you believe that you don’t belong,” Clayton adds. “How do we inspire the next generation of readers and writers if we don’t include them?”

When asked about the challenges of writing for that new generation, Clayton says that one hurdle can be getting into the mindset of a young reader.

“Adults forget what it’s like to be a child. We lose our childlike wonder and innocence and excitement for the world. Everything becomes stale and old and we become grumped,” she says. Clayton turned to the journals she kept as a kid, and looked back on the “petty grievances” she had with the world when she was younger.

“I like to reread those to remind myself, ‘What was I actually worried about as a kid? What are the things that bothered me? What was my internal temperature and the rhythm of my emotions when I was young? What was the stuff that I loved?’” she says. The author also notes the “very fractured world” that kids are growing up in today.

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“I try to really respect the imaginations of children, respect how they feel and try to think back,” she says. “The challenge for this next generation [is] that they just have a lot going on, so I’m hoping to meet them where they are.”

Though the Conjureverse novels are Clayton’s middle grade debut, she’s written over a dozen books for young readers over the past decade, beginning with her 2015 young adult debut Tiny Pretty Things. Uplifting underrepresented voices, however, has been a priority for the author beyond her own work. That ethos shaped her entertainment company Cake Creative, which creates intellectual property for kids books; Clayton is particularly interested in stories with BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and culturally diverse protagonists, as well as characters with disabilities, as she told The New York Times.

Clayton is also a co-founder of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books, which focuses on making diverse stories accessible to readers.

“We have the books, we have writers who are writing the books, who are excited, who have now stepped out of the margins and have been given opportunities,” Clayton says. “But now we have to make sure that those books get in the hands of readers, educators, teachers, librarians. We have to protect the right to read.”

That is also a priority for Clayton in her role as a national leader for the coalition Authors Against Book Bans, especially as book banning continues to rise around the country. The organization counts among its members celebrated authors like Judy Blume, Julia Quinn, Elizabeth Acevedo and more.

“No one wants to see librarians and teachers get arrested or lose their jobs over our books. That makes me feel very guilty,” Clayton says. “I can’t ask you to go into your classroom and teach my book if it’s going to get you sued or make you lose your job.”

“We’re just trying to make sure that everyone has the knowledge,” she says of the coalition’s mission. “Look at who’s on your school board, what is their position on books, research them. Show up at those meetings to get the lay of the land, and then ask teachers and librarians how you can help them.”

With The Deadly Fates, Clayton also hopes to write a universe “where everybody can find themselves.”

“It is the magical world where it doesn’t matter who you are — there is a place for you. There’s something marvelous about you,” she says. “I just really hope that readers, adult and young, older and younger, will find their childlike wonder there.”

The Deadly Fates is now available from Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, wherever books are sold.