The Power of Voice: Two Picture Book Models

Ask anyone who writes, or teaches writing, and you'll quickly hear that VOICE is the feature of literature that most often captures the attention of readers, editors, and agents. And yet, when speakers are asked to elaborate, their frequent response is "I know it when I read it." 

Well, that's not especially helpful, even if it is true. In my recent review of THE LONGEST LETSGOBOY, (HERE) it was the author's amazing interpretation of a dog's voice that gained my praise. That book  is a fiction offering that reveals important truths about life.

In nonfiction picture books, VOICE also resonates, often through the author's attitude, style, or point of view. That was particularly true in the recent post about THE WORLD'S MOST POINTLESS BOOK ABOUT ANIMALS (HERE). VOICE can capture attention and engage readers, even mentor them in their own approaches to writing with a distinctive voice that evokes   connections and emotions.

VOICE, though, can be quite literal. It can refer to the capacity of an individual to express their identity, their needs, their values. Sadly, in real life, VOICES from outside the mainstream are too easily ignored. These two titles celebrate (and inform us about) readers using those voices, including  children and underrepresented members of society.

Workman Publishing, 2021

HEAR MY VOICE/ESCUCHA MI VOZ : The Testimonies of Children Detained at the Southern Border of the United States is compiled by Warren Binford and illustrated by Michael Garcia Bochenek. As the title indicates, this resulted from a project meant to assure that at least some of the actual young people who have been/are being detained at our border could speak about the experience from their deeply personal and individual experiences. What's more, the book guarantees that their voices will be heard and will persist across time. As they should be.

With a brief introduction to explain the project, a few spreads indicate colorfully illustrated speakers offering their own names, then their individual homelands. The very natural next lines indicate the HOW and WHY of their journeys, with the accompanying emotional reactions along the way. With speakers ranging from tots to teens, depicted in various detention settings, the emerging questions and concerns are shockingly ordinary. Until they are not. Their simple statements reveal ways in which life in detention is dehumanizing and even terrifying, not to mention leaving them hungry, cold, tired, and even sick. These simply-stated facts combine with illustrations that are slightly comic-style, but with tones and perspectives that enhance understanding and connections of mind, body, and emotions. 

There is a center-switch design, allowing readers to enter the book from the English text or the Spanish text by flipping the book upside down to read again. The contributing voices are named and featured in the alternate-facing center spread, and the words are theirs. The compiling author opens the story (in both approaches) with a vow of truth that sounds very much like a declaration in court. These are the actual words (and voices) of the children (detainees) they interviewed for the project. 

HARPER (HCH), 2021

Next up is SHARICE'S BIG VOICE: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman, co-authored by Sharice Davids with Nancy K. Mays. Narrated in Congresswoman Sharice Davids's first person voice, she reflects on the stages in her life that led to her current elected position. As a Native/indigenous woman she describes the powerful influence of witnessing her mother using her voice in conversation, especially with strangers. Sharice was a talker, too, enough so that it sometimes got her into trouble in school. Even so, her curiosity, her opinions, and her growing awareness of her Ho-Chunk heritage  revealed that their identity is PEOPLE OF THE BIG VOICE. (Learn more HERE).

While studtying in college she had many jobs that required her to problem solve, to listen, and to find resolutions. Those years included training in Jujitsu, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira, and mixed martial arts, building confidence, her competitive spirit, and reinforcing her mother's example of hard work leading to success. She describes becoming a lawyer, serving Native communities, and eventually working in the White House. Throughout her law career she learned how laws are made and also how rarely those making the laws understand the impact they would have on ordinary people. The closing pages reveal her grassroots campaign to become a lawmaker, leading to her election to Congress where her big voice could speak on behalf of those forgotten people.

Back matter includes notes from the authors, as well as several pages of information about Ho-Chunk Nation. Throughout this simply-told account there are personal insights that will connect with kids (she HATES onions on pizza!). The illustrations by Ojibwe Woodland artist Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley use strong, earthy tones in high-contrast colors, emphasizing geometric shapes and other Native references with bold black lines in powerful postures and profiles throughout.

These distinctly different nonfiction offerings have many important things in common. Both provide intensely personal looks at the power of using voice to gain justice and to resolve problems. Both indicate that using voice does not always result in being heard. Both point out that whose voice is heard can all too often depend on the amount of power they have, or don't. And on the color of their skin.

And both are outstanding nominees for CYBILS AWARDS in elementary nonfiction.