Look Up. Life’s Answers Aren’t in the Cracks

Trey Baker’s new children’s book from Scholastic, When I Look Up, is a dream come true.

It’s also a love letter to his father. 

“It’s not a story about me but it is a story of an experience that I had as a young child coming from a biracial household and trying to figure out my own identity as a young person and where I fit in,” he says. “I went to my father with all these questions and doubts. He took me out one summer night and he said, ‘Son, just look up. You can take all your doubts and desires to the sky.’” 

While his father was being philosophical, Baker, a student in the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship Program, was learning the importance of finding his voice — and his way. 

“Nowadays, we have a lot of folks looking down, whether it’s because we’re afraid to introduce ourselves, we’re looking at our phone, we’re caught up in despair,” he says. “The book is about this journey of what it means to look up and what we see when we face hopelessness, ultimately allowing the adventure of the cosmos to guide the reader to who they are, who they want to be, and what makes a life worth living.” 

As the book’s main character, Apollo, discovers, “After stretching my imagination, it became clear that life’s answers wouldn’t be found in the cracks of the concrete, the mud on my shoes, or the hollowness of my shadow. Instead, the brightness of the stars would lead my way. Learning to fly means I have learned to live my dreams. Should I have any desires or doubts, I will take them to the sky. I am ready. Ready to look up. Ready to shine.” 

Baker says when he wrote the book, he was also intentional about centering the strong relationship between son and father.

“Particularly in my community, between Black sons and Black fathers, that relationship has a very interesting narrative,” he says. “And coming from My Brother's Keeper, part of my goal with this book is to share the joy of what it means for a Black father and a Black son to love each other and not be taken away by the negatives of society, the things that distract us from loving each other.” My Brother’s Keeper was launched in 2014 by President Barack Obama to address the opportunity gaps boys and young men of color face. Baker has been a member of the organization’s leadership network since 2020.

The book is part of Scholastic’s Rising Voices series, a K–5 collection of classroom library books and teaching materials that bring underrepresented voices into schools so that all students can see themselves in stories. In the collection that includes When I Look Up, every illustrator and author is of African or African American descent, including Fresh Prince actress Karyn Parsons and former Savannah, Georgia, Superintendent Ann Levett.

Michael Haggen, chief academic officer at Scholastic and Baker’s mentor, says a book like When I Look Up is important for young readers.

“Trey invites readers to see the world through his lens, encouraging them to explore their own stories and perspectives,” he says. “This book offers students a chance to connect, reflect, and build confidence in their own voices — all while supporting meaningful literacy development.” Mentoring Baker, he says, “has been a truly meaningful experience. From the start, he’s shown a deep sense of purpose and a natural gift for expression. When I Look Up beautifully reflects that journey. It’s honest, reflective, and rooted in the kind of storytelling that resonates with young people.”

Storytelling is at the heart of Baker’s work. When he was writing the book, for example, he used his poetry skills — skills that helped him earn three Emmy nominations, including one for an original spoken word poem he wrote and performed in partnership with the WNBA Seattle Storm team and their Kicks for Equality Campaign.

For the past few years, he has also traveled to schools around the country as a teaching artist for Scholastic’s Our Greatness Is Our Story spoken word program.

“We work with different public school districts to bring in this innovative way of looking at poetry and how elementary school students can explore different themes and use poetry to find their sense of belonging, to find their voice,” he says. “At the end, we have our oratorical festivals where students perform their final piece of poetry to their entire school community. For a lot of these students, it’s their first time getting up on stage. That emphasis on how storytelling has impacted me as a human, but also as an educator and as an artist, that’s what I wanted to bring here to HGSE.”

That emphasis, he says, came from his mother, a teacher, and from his father, who was very emotional when he read When I Look Up for the first time.

“He’s a man of many words, but when he saw the cover and we turned the pages together, tears of joy just escaped him,” Baker says. “It was a beautiful moment to see how proud he was of his son. That moment that we shared together, I’ll never forget. And the fact that that story is now going to be shared with folks from all walks of life is something that he holds dear to his heart. So, yes, it's very much a love letter to him.”