KID VOICES: Amplify, Support, Celebrate, RIGHT NOW!

Few would argue that kids have voices, opinions, personal interests, and attitudes. This is true physically (walk past any playground or swimming pool for proof) and figuratively (recall times when their voices are NOT in agreement with yours!). In the case of this upcoming (September 7, 2022) picture book, the voices speaking up refer to specific contemporary individual youths as well as addressing any young person who encounters the text. In fact, in the closing pages the author charges/challenges adults in the lives of those young folks to actively support their efforts and encourage their drive to improve the world, not settling for our "hopes" for their future but helping to improve it now.

CLARION BOOKS, 2022

RIGHT NOW! Real Kids Speaking Up For Change is written by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Bea Jackson. The cover is wrapped with images of the named examples whose brief profiles demonstrate the power of a committed young voice with following actions, but every single page reveals who the YOU of direct address text might be: diverse in age, ethnicity, ability, issue, and pursuit. 

The common denominators for the various images are their smiles, their determined expressions, and their unity in support of each other. More than sixteen individual examples are shared, with each example providing a brief background story, a direct quotation (cited in back matter), and a continuity of the general text which frames the individual as a potential "you", including the circumstances that led to the individual activism on behalf of a wider community. Those commitments ranged from medical discoveries to making life-needs available to the hungry and unhoused, to global causes like immigration, rights of girls and women, treatment of those with disabilities/differences, and basic kindness.

Backmatter includes a brief author note (with that challenge to adults), tagged ways-to-speak-up for eleven of the issues spotlighted within the profiles, a simple glossary, and bibliography with quotation sources. Paul has a polished talent for presenting nonfiction content in accessible, appealing ways that "speak" naturally to young readers without patronizing or oversimplifying. That is enhanced by the gifted art of illustrator Jackson. The colorful, recognizable images of these diverse, specific examples are couched in identifiable situations and settings, with a comfortable realism but a slight/inspiring glow to their demeanors. These, and the general characters throughout, could be found in any school anywhere, and they are. It matters that we (adults) recognize that in them, and help young people recognize in themselves the voices and interests that can change the world. A book like this is a ticket to begin that journey.

Carolrhoda Books
August, 2022

 

Two other new picture books encourage similar attitudes in young people. Both are charming and reinforce the call to action of RIGHT NOW, although they feel best suited to underscore or reinforce that text. BE A BRIDGE is written by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, with illustrations by Nabila Adani. It is written in rhymed lines with a direct address to younger readers, occasionally tending a bit didactic, but with wonderfully charming and colorful illustrations of diverse kids. Framed in a school setting, each reappears in various scenes, sometimes choosing positive actions and sometimes benefitting from the advice to calm down or deal with life in kind ways. 

BEAMING BOOKS
2022

Finally, SARAH RISING deserves a close look and sharing. In this case the tentative young voice is that of Sarah, who loves nature and her little "pets", a living collection that we later learn are lovingly cared for. observed,  and then released back into nature. Sarah, too, is lovingly cared for and will one day be released into her own future, but for now she is learning first hand from her dad that every voice should be raised to speak out for those being treated unjustly. The situation of a protest has a somber, worrisome tone, but Sarah's impulse to save an injured monarch butterfly outweighs her fear of the "BIG" people surrounding her. Her kindness separates her from her father, but results in care and kindness from other BIG people who lift her up to locate her dad inn the crowd. The sense of Sarah rising to a need, rising above her fear, naming her emotions, and being raised to see herself as able and with agency are all worth considering and discussing openly. Author Ty Chapman achieves an authentic young girl's first person voice and perspective, while illustrator DeAnn Wiley achieves an appealing balance of dark-skinned characters within joyful, safe, and happy scenes/relationships as well portraying widely diverse individuals involved in the protests and police groups, in which the overall tone and perspectives convey the shifting moods within the story arc. The recovered monarch being freed at the end offers a just-right dose of introductory lessons on symbolism. 

Overall, this threesome deserves a place on the list of "back to school" picture books across many age levels.