---
title: 'A Kids Co. recognized by the 2025 Oregon Book Awards'
date: '2025-04-30T13:07:18-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 246
char_count: 1774
tokens: 320
categories:
  - Portland
---

# A Kids Co. recognized by the 2025 Oregon Book Awards

It’s not often that a Portland startup gets recognized by the [Oregon Book Awards](https://literary-arts.org/2025/04/announcing-the-2025-oregon-book-award-winners/), but this week, that’s exactly what happened. A Kids Co. — which started as [A Kids Book About](https://siliconflorist.com/2019/10/01/helping-parents-approach-challenging-topics-with-a-kids-book-about/) and was eventually [acquired by DK](https://siliconflorist.com/2024/07/02/portland-startup-a-kids-co-sells-a-kids-book-about-series-to-dk/) — and its founder Jelani Memory were selected as the 2025 recipient of the The Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award.

[Jelani shared the win on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jelanimemory_i-never-couldve-imagined-this-last-night-activity-7323115547536109568-hjII?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAZTPABpzOAcnIrkYOlK0XhArMoD_BVprE):

> At 32, I wrote my first book—not for the world, but for my kids. To start a conversation. To talk about racism. To talk about being Black. To talk about being human.
> 
> That book turned into [A Kids Co.](https://www.linkedin.com/company/akidsco/)—a company that’s helped millions of kids around the world talk about the stuff that matters.
> 
> But if you ask me what my real legacy is, it’s not the books.
> 
> It’s that I still read three books a night to my kids.

For more information on the awards, visit [Literary Arts](https://literary-arts.org/2025/04/announcing-the-2025-oregon-book-award-winners/). For more on the company, visit [A Kids Co](https://akidsco.com/).

*\[Full disclosure: A Kids Book About is a PIE alum. I am the cofounder and general manager of PIE.\]*

More Portland startup news
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