Isaiah Hartwell is the pen name behind Made Out of Clay Productions — an independent children's publishing imprint built around one belief: every child deserves to see themselves in a story.
Isaiah writes for the kids who don't always fit the mold, and for the families raising them. The characters in these books aren't perfect. They get overwhelmed. They need quiet. They want to be like their siblings. They're afraid of the pool. They walk a long road and don't know where it ends. And that's exactly the point.
The name Made Out of Clay comes from a simple truth — we're all still being shaped. The children who read these books. The parents who read them out loud. The author who writes them. Every story is an act of shaping something that wasn't there before.
The Just the Way You Are series is inspired by a real boy named Clayton — the kind of kid who sees the world differently and makes it better just by being in it.