Bestselling Author Renée Watson on Ending Her Middle Grade ‘Ryan Hart’ Series: ‘It’s Bittersweet’ (Exclusive)

“The fact that dark-skinned Black girls in natural hair are on covers is quite revolutionary in children's literature,” the author says

New York Times #1 bestselling author Renée Watson gained inspiration for her middle grade series, the Ryan Hart books, from a variety of sources, including the young people she worked with as a creative writing teacher and mentor, Beverly Cleary’s headstrong protagonist Ramona Quimby and Watson’s own goddaughter. 

“She was playing one day and cooking, making up recipes, and having me taste all these fake dishes that she was making,” Watson, 45, recalls to PEOPLE. “And I loved her joy. I loved her sweetness, and her just being this girl who gets to play and love her little sister…I was thinking about her a lot and wanting her to have a book.”

Those books are now beloved by young readers and have been recommended by book enthusiasts like Jenna Bush Hager. The final book in the Ryan Hart series, Ways to Build Dreams, is available today from Bloomsbury Publishing.

Related: Jenna Bush Hager Says Nights Reading with Her Kids Are 'So Precious': 'It Should Be Fun' (Exclusive)

“It's bittersweet,” Watson says of the series ending. “I'm doing a lot of reflecting [on] what it meant to publish a book about joy and perseverance, and being intentional about making sunshine in the midst of everything we've gone through in these last three, four years.”

Watson, whose books have sold over 1 million copies, writes across genres and topics for young readers. Her 2017 young adult novel Piecing Me Together received the Newbery Honor and the Coretta Scott King Author Award, and her other titles, including picture book The 1619 Project: Born on the Water and fictional biography Betty Before X, co-written with Malcom X and Betty Shabazz's daughter Ilyasah Shabazz, showcase prominent moments and figures in Black history.

“I want to share stories, and however they come to me is how I want to give them to the world,” Watson says. “Sometimes it comes as a picture book and sometimes it comes as a novel.” She also credits poetry as her "first love;" writers like Nikki Giovanni, Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes, among others, inspired her and the poems she would pen in her journals growing up.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Watson published the first book in the Ryan Hart series, Ways to Make Sunshine, in 2020. After finishing the book tour for Piecing Me Together, the author, also influenced by conversations she had with educators, parents and readers, wanted to write the story of "a little Black girl could just play, and have fun, and be in her skin without apology or explanation."

Across the series’ four books, Ryan deals with a variety of childhood obstacles: navigating sleepaway camp for the first time, dealing with teasing and performing in the class talent show. The stories are also cemented in familial love. Every book, for example, features a moment where Ryan gets her hair done by her grandmother — scenes that particularly stuck out to the author while writing.

“Those are the scenes that are so meaningful in each book, where the grandmother is imparting some kind of wisdom to Ryan, helping her process what's going on in her life,” Watson says.

Watson also notes that Ryan taught her to let characters “be flawed and normal and human,” and to exist beyond just having a message for readers. This is a theme she wants to see extending beyond her books as well.

“The fact that dark-skinned Black girls in natural hair are on covers is quite revolutionary in children's literature,” Watson says. “I just want more nuanced stories. We deserve to be in every genre, not only realistic fiction…we deserve romance stories and thrillers, mysteries, all of that. We are multifaceted people, so I want to see every kind of story that there can be about us being written.”

Related: W. Kamau Bell Wants to Help Kids of Color Find Books to Inspire (Exclusive)

Watson, who is also a teaching artist and founder of the I, Too Arts Collective, has no plans to stop writing once the Ryan Hart series ends. She has a new middle grade novel set to publish soon, as well as a picture book coming in 2024, about a young girl enjoying the first day of summer. The author’s aspirations for her readers are sure to follow into these stories as well.

“I'm thinking of how [I can] hopefully inspire them, encourage them, push them to go beyond what we've already done with this world, and continue to make it better,” she says. “All of that is with me when I'm writing.”

Ways to Build Dreams is now available where books are sold.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.