Three-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Sharon G. Flake is coming to Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books on Thursday at 7 p.m. for a celebration and signing of her newest book, “Hattie Mae Begins Again.”

The book, a verse novel and sequel to Flake’s 2023 novel “Once in a Blue Moon,” centers on Hattie Mae, a young Black girl who moves from a rural community in the South to Philadelphia in 1938.

“I’m always trying to tell a story about what happens when we leave home,” Flake said. “What do we carry with us? What do we leave behind?”

These questions are central themes of the middle-grade book, along with “family, community, and the adults that help kids navigate their environments,” she said.

Children and adolescents are the foundation of Flake’s work, and all her books are aimed at middle-grade readers. “I want kids to look and say, ‘Hey, this is me. This is my story,’ no matter what their background is.”

Flake wrote sporadically in and after college. At that time, she says, “I was not as confident in my own talent.” However, after her daughter was born, she began writing more consistently.

“I started telling [my daughter] stories about dark brown girls who could fly, because I wanted her to feel good about the skin she was wearing,” Flake said. She recalls visiting her daughter’s preschool classes and sharing her writing. Soon, Flake began publishing picture books for young children.

Later, after attending a conference for children’s writers, Flake recalls one member encouraging her to lean into longer books for children and young adult readers.

“I knew in my gut that [the advice] was right,” she said. And so began her work on “The Skin I’m In.”

The book, published in 2000, received the Coretta Scott King Award for outstanding books by African American authors. It has been praised for its message of self-worth and confidence and has had a transformative effect on young readers.

“When you’re at [a young age], you’re always looking at yourself and coming up short, right? And I don’t think I ever forgot what it felt like, and I’ve always had a lot of respect for young people,” Flake said.

Flake, a Philadelphia native, found that the most impactful part of writing “Hattie Mae Begins Again” was the connection to her city: “Even though I grew up here, when you’re doing the research, you are walking the streets and finding out stuff you never knew, and finding ways to incorporate those into the book.”

For this reason, Flake is excited to present the book at a local bookstore cafe. Having done a previous event with Uncle Bobbie’s, “it was sort of a no-brainer to want to go there and connect with them,” she said. “Come and bring your children, bring yourself, and let’s have a good time together.”

Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books is located at 5445 Germantown Ave., in Germantown.