Linda Soules Releases 'So You Want To Be A Diplomat,' an Award-Winning Kids' Guide to International Relations

Author Linda Soules has released So You Want To Be A Diplomat: A Kids' Guide to Diplomacy, International Relations, Embassies, and the Skilled Negotiators Who Build Peace and Understanding Between Nations, a 38-page illustrated children's nonfiction book for readers ages 10 to 14. The title is available now at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766376 (ISBN 978-1-972766-37-8). It is the latest entry in Soules's So You Want To Be A... series. The book explains how countries talk to one another instead of fighting, and it presents diplomacy as a set of skills young readers can learn. It has already won the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, the Grand Prize at the 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, and a Silver Award in Children's Nonfiction at the 2026 CIPA EVVY Book Awards.

Diplomacy is hard to teach children because its best results are invisible. A crisis that never happens produces no headline, no photograph and no victory lap. Middle school social studies units usually reach international relations through treaties, wars and dates, which can leave students with the impression that history is made only by leaders at podiums. Soules's book starts from a different premise: most of a diplomat's work is quiet, patient and unseen, and that is exactly why young readers should know about it. The book is written for curious kids who want to understand how the world works beyond their own borders. It is also written for the parents and teachers who want to give them an accurate, engaging picture of what peacemaking involves.

The book is built around a day in the life of a working diplomat. Readers follow the schedule from the 6:30 AM cable traffic to the 10 PM encrypted call back to the capital. Along the way they step inside embassies, foreign ministries and the hotel-lobby corners where, as the book puts it, history is actually decided. The structure turns an abstract profession into a sequence of concrete tasks: reading overnight reports, preparing for meetings, listening closely to counterparts and reporting home. Soules uses that routine to show that diplomatic work depends less on dramatic speeches than on preparation, memory and persistence.

Four biographical profiles anchor the history. Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through three years of disagreement, after being told as a young woman that she was too plain, too anxious and too earnest. Ralph Bunche was raised by a grandmother born into slavery and became the first Black person awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Dag Hammarskjöld is the only person to receive the Peace Prize after his death. Kofi Annan rose from junior staff to Secretary-General of the United Nations over forty years. Each profile is told as a story of persistence, and the four lives are presented as evidence of why that courage still matters.

Between the profiles, the book collects episodes designed to be retold. One is the borrowed bus ride between ping-pong players that helped open more than twenty years of silence between the United States and China. Another explains why pandas in foreign zoos are technically on diplomatic missions, with cubs born abroad recalled home like any other diplomat finishing a posting. Readers also learn what is protected inside the diplomatic bag that no country is allowed to open, and how a single mistranslated word shaped thirty years of the Cold War. The book also covers the practical, sometimes humbling side of the job, including the strong stomach needed when a host serves hundred-year eggs or fish-eye soup.

Many books for young readers about government and world affairs focus on institutions or on a single historical era. So You Want To Be A Diplomat instead treats peacemaking and conflict resolution as learnable skills. It names the qualities a diplomat needs: a sharp memory for names, the patience to listen when everyone else wants to shout, and the discretion to keep secrets for a lifetime. It avoids talking down to its audience, using what its description calls honest literary prose and treating readers as the thoughtful, capable people they already are. The result sits between a biography collection and a career guide, with a narrative drive closer to adventure nonfiction than to a textbook.

"Diplomacy is mostly patient work nobody sees. I wanted kids to learn that peacemaking is a skill they can practice, starting with listening," said Linda Soules, author of the So You Want To Be A... series.

The primary audience is readers ages 10 to 14 who are curious about international relations, human rights or the foreign service, and those who simply want to understand how nations negotiate instead of fight. A student considering a career in diplomacy can use the day-in-the-life chapters to see what the work looks like hour by hour. A reader who has never thought about embassies can start with the panda and diplomatic-bag stories and move on to the biographies. Because the profiles emphasize setbacks and long careers, the book also speaks to young people who doubt whether quiet, persistent effort counts for anything. Parents can use it as a conversation starter about current events and how conflicts get resolved.

The book is also aimed at classrooms. Its description identifies uses in middle school social studies units, Model UN clubs, school projects and book reports. The four profiles give teachers ready-made subjects for biography assignments, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights material connects to human rights lessons. Model UN advisers can use the negotiation and listening themes to prepare new members before their first conference. Librarians looking for current, well-illustrated children's nonfiction on civics and global affairs will find a title that has been recognized by three separate awards programs. At 38 pages, it is short enough to read in one sitting and structured so that individual sections can be assigned on their own.

The book's recognition spans three programs. It won the Literary Titan Gold Book Award and took the Grand Prize in the 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards. It also earned a Silver Award in the Children's Nonfiction category of the 2026 CIPA EVVY Book Awards. The So You Want To Be A... series has been described as award-winning more broadly, and this title extends that record. For readers deciding among the growing number of children's nonfiction options on global affairs, the awards offer an outside check on the book's quality, though the publisher's description, not the awards, remains the best guide to its content and tone.

So You Want To Be A Diplomat is available now through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766376. The listing identifies the book as children's nonfiction with 38 pages and the ISBN 978-1-972766-37-8. Readers should check the listing for current format options and pricing. Teachers, librarians and parents who want to evaluate the book before assigning or purchasing it can use the listing's description, which outlines the day-in-the-life structure, the four featured diplomats and the stories included. Interview requests with the author can be directed through the spokesperson contact associated with this release. Review inquiries from educators and children's book reviewers are welcome.

The release belongs to a larger project. Soules is the author and creator of the So You Want To Be A... series, a growing collection of books that introduce young readers to different careers and fields. The diplomat volume applies that format to a profession where results are often invisible, and its awards suggest the approach carries over to subjects beyond the familiar ones. For families and schools, a series offers continuity: readers who finish one volume can look for others that use the same combination of illustrated storytelling, real-world detail and respect for the reader's intelligence. Details on additional titles are available through the author's listings on Amazon.

About Linda Soules: Linda Soules is the author and creator of the So You Want To Be A... series, a growing collection of illustrated nonfiction books for young readers. Her latest title, So You Want To Be A Diplomat, is a 38-page children's nonfiction guide to diplomacy, international relations and embassies for ages 10 to 14. It has won the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, the 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards Grand Prize and a 2026 CIPA EVVY Silver Award in Children's Nonfiction. The book is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766376.