Art & Illustration

Meet Nicole

Nicole’s gently colorful and emotional artwork belies a shy and reserved personality. Originally shy, she was drawn to creating her own worlds on paper; art was both fun and an escape from feeling different. Today Nicole is an award-winning illustrator with over thirty books in publication.

Coming soon!

Time to board the bus! Liberty and her friend Abdullah, with their families and a diverse group of passengers, head off to their first stop: Jackson, Mississippi. Next on their map are Glendora, Memphis, Birmingham, Montgomery, and finally Selma, for a march across the iconic Edmund Pettus Bridge.

As told through the innocent view of a child, Liberty’s Civil Rights Road Trip serves as an early introduction to places, people, and events that transformed history. The story is inspired by an actual journey led by author Michael W. Waters, bringing together a multigenerational group to witness key locations from the civil rights movement. An author’s note and more information about each stop on Liberty’s trip offer ways for adults to expand the conversation with young readers.

A portion of the publisher’s sales proceeds will be donated to Foot Soldiers Park in Selma, Alabama, a nonprofit dedicated to honoring the history and continued relevance of the Selma movement.

Publication Date: 10/12/21
Ages 3-7
9781947888197

Now available

Tiara has a gift for storytelling; her momma has a gift for making hats. When a new store opens that sells cheaper hats, Momma has to set her dreams aside, but Tiara has an idea for helping Momma’s dreams come true again.

Published April 2020 | ISBN: 9780807579459

Available now!

A Fist For Joe Louis And Me

Written by Trinka Hakes Noble
Illustrated by Nicole Tadgell

Gordy and his family live in Detroit, Michigan, the heart of the United States automobile industry. Against the backdrop of the 1938 Fight of the Century, a young boy learns what it means to make a stand for a friend.

Sleeping Bear Press, August 2019
ISBN 9781534146174

Launched into space May 4th, 2019

Annie blasted off for a special reading in space! Nicole’s most recently illustrated book, Astronaut Annie, was read on the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Story Time From Space program.

The SpaceX launch was scheduled for April 26th, but was postponed to May 4th and docked on May 6th. Stay tuned for updates about a very special reading in space!

Now available

When Dede sees a notice offering land to black people in Kansas, her family decides to give up their life of sharecropping to become homesteading pioneers in the Midwest.

Inspired by the true story of Nicodemus, Kansas, a town founded in the late 1870s by Exodusters—former slaves leaving the Jim Crow South in search of a new beginning—this fictional story follows Dede and her parents as they set out to stake and secure a claim, finally allowing them to have a home to call their own.

Published January 2019 | ISBN: 9780807525357

More Titles

Real Sisters Pretend

by Megan Dowd Lambert
Tilbury House

My Cancer Days

by Courtney Filigenzi
American Cancer Society

Friends for Freedom

by Suzanne Slade
Albert Whitman & Co.
Nicole is a proud supporter of We Need Diverse Books, a 501(c)3 non-profit and grassroots organization that advocates for the publishing industry to produce and promote more literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.

Represented by

The CAT Agency, Inc.
Publishers and art buyers should contact my agent: christy@catugeau.com