8 celebrities who have written children’s books: from Meghan Markle, who dedicated hers to Prince Harry and Archie, to Kevin Hart, Madonna and Natalie Portman – but which hip-hop star made an ABCs book?

Aug 16 , 2024

Lupita Nyong’o, Neil Patrick Harris and Meghan Markle are just some of the celebrities who have written children’s books. Photos: @blackgirlsrock, @nph_ir, @royalsussexwindsors.__/Instagram

Meghan Markle’s 2021 book release The Bench was dedicated to ‘the man and the boy who make my heart go pump-pump’ – referring to Prince Harry and her son Archie

Lupita Nyong’o wants kids who look like her to love ‘the skin [they’re] in’ earlier than she did as a child through reading her book Sulwe, while Kevin Hart hopes young ones will pursue ‘big dreams’

From blockbuster movies to bestselling novels, celebrities are always drawn to the world of storytelling – and what better way to share your message with the next generation than through a children’s book?

Stars like Lupita Nyong’o put representation at the core of their stories, while Madonna and Whoopi Goldberg wanted to write fun tales for little girls. Here’s a rundown of eight celebs who have dabbled in kids’ literature over the years.

1. Lupita Nyong’o

Lupita Nyong’o’s children’s book is titled Sulwe, about a girl with “skin the colour of midnight”. Photo: @blackgirlsrock/Instagram

Lupita Nyong’o’s New York Times bestselling children’s book Sulwe tells the story of a young girl who struggles with her dark skin. In 2019, Nyong’o told Good Morning America that, as a child, she’d “thought that in order to make it into the pages of books, you had to be light”, she said. “It took a while for me to learn to love the skin I’m in,” she added. “I wrote this book to help little kids get there a little faster.”

2. Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle holding a copy of her book The Bench. Photo: @royalsussexwindsors.__/Instagram

The Duchess of Sussex released a children’s book back in 2021 called The Bench. “I wrote this as a poem for my husband and our son Archie, then turned it into a book so that you could enjoy it too,” she said in an introduction on Brightly Storytime before reading it aloud. The book is dedicated to Prince Harry and their son with the opening words: “For the man and the boy who make my heart go pump-pump.”

Pages from Meghan Markle’s book, The Bench. Photo: @dukeandduchessofsussexdaily/Instagram

3. Kevin Hart

Marcus Makes it Big by Kevin Hart is about “a young boy who has big Hollywood dreams”. Photos: @kevinhart4real/Instagram, Random House Books

During pandemic quarantine, comedian Kevin Hart decided to knuckle down and write an illustrated series about a little boy pursuing big dreams. The two books released so far – Marcus Makes it Big and Marcus Makes a Movie – are part of his attempt to “give back”, he told NPR. He also admitted that his children were part of his development process: “Seeing the world through their eyes now is … it’s a fun thing.”