A Feast of Text and Illustration Celebrates Young Black Lives

  My recent post featured the important, little-known story of TEACHER HEROES in the Civil Rights movement in Selma Alabama. I hope you read the review and will check out this book. Then  share the JANE ADDAMS PEACE AWARD finalist with kids and adults, far and wide. Historic figures like Reverend F. D. Reeves and groups who summoned the courage to show up and stand up need to be widely recognized and appreciated. 

I concluded that post, though, with a short note and several links to titles that celebrate the equal importance of sharing books, stories, lives, and resources about contemporary figures, joyous childhood experiences, and the wholeness of BLACK LIVES.

I begin with this initial connection between schools and the teachers in them to raise the painfully true issue of the many ways in which schools do not treat all children equally. In fact, current public schools are staffed predominantly by teachers who are White and female. Too often, school routines and conventions actively erase, invalidate, or (to our shame) punish Black children more often and more severely than others. 

This is true for both boys and girls, but most harmfully so for Back boys.

Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020

The amazing (and multi-award-winning) team of author DERRICK BARNES and illustrator/fine artist GORDON C.JAMES again worked their magic to produce an astonishingly gorgeous picture book,      I AM EVERY GOOD THING.  

Their previous masterpiece, CROWN: AN ODE TO THE FRESH CUT (2018) was breathtaking in poetic voice, joyful and expressive paintings, and exclamatory content. I offered a brief review with other titles in celebration of the identities of Black boys in this post. I was far from a lone voice in singing its praises. During its award season this first collaboration earned enough awards to replace all the the stars on the cover with awards stickers, and it continues to win state and kid-choice and other recognitions in the years since.  

It is not surprising that publishers would encourage further creative collaborations. Surely, though, this new picture book exceeds any expectations about what would come next. It definitely exceeded my lofty hopes. 

If you were to hear even a short sample of text from this recent book on a radio program, no images available, you would certainly be grinning ear to ear and stand taller in your bones, whatever your racial or ethnic identity. 

For example:

"I am 

a nonstop ball of energy.

Powerful and full of light.

I am a go-getter, A difference maker.

A leader." 

You can listen to a recent NPR (10/24/2020) interview with the creators HERE.

Every child (and adult) would benefit from reciting such "I-statements" to begin the day, confront challenges, introduce ourselves to others, and view ourselves taking as having a rightful place in the world. 

On the face of it, an illustrator would be hard-pressed to add anything to such an empowering verse. But the art James created for these lines (and all the others) manages to magnify and internalize Barnes's potent text even further by revealing faces, scenes, perspectives, angles, and potentials of Black boys with a variety of features, skin tones, hair choices, postures, and attitudes. Each is an individual, and each interprets this brilliant text from inside out.

Interior Spread: I AM EVERY GOOD THING
Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020

In doing so, a brilliant anthem for Black males becomes an anthology of countless visual biographies. Specific and worthy and lovable lives are written in the eyes, encounters, and possibilities portrayed. Images like these provide a perfect integration of contemporary lives with the many centuries (millennia) of inheritance that produced these individuals and their stories. Whether that history is celebratory, courageous, or even tragic, it is far too often the SINGLE story of Black lives. If classroom inventories of books exploring Black lives were honestly evaluated, the bulk of titles would focus, in story and image, on the injustices, losses, endangerment, and eventual survival of people with dark skin. Most would be hauled out and shared during February, then packed away for another year. Few, if any, would reflect these exuberant, smiling, confident faces. 

Interior Spread, YOU ARE EVERY GOOD THING
Jane Paulsen Books, 2020

More celebratory and adventuresome and comical books featuring contemporary Black kids have been published in recent years. Many more are in the pipeline, but not nearly enough. This is, in part, why I AM EVERY GOOD THING is a must-have title, an anchor choice for classrooms of every age and color and identity. It provides a lens through which to view existing collections and a guide for additions to family and classroom and library collections. Each of those singular and important legacy titles must be kept in context, recognizing the heroism of Black youth (and adults) who summon the inner joy to face each day with an embrace of themselves, as voiced on the closing page:

"I am worthy

to be loved."

As someone who resists answering the inevitable "What is your favorite...?" questions, I will warmly and eagerly include this among the titles on my "One of my favorite..." lists. I hope you will, too.

BLACK BOYS: THREE Fresh Looks to Celebrate

When I began working on today's post, I was excited to notice for the first time that the total page views since I began posting six years ago have topped 150,000! That's hardly a tsunami of readers but it is more than I could have imagined back at the start of this journey.
And that landmark was passed during the week I shared thoughts on BALDERDASH and the ALA Awards, which you can watch on video if you missed it live last week. I was excited, of course, but not nearly as thrilled as I've been to see the wide success of three recent releases celebrating black culture: two picture books and one film. 

Agate Bolden, 2017

One of the books that garnered MANY awards and honors during the ALA awards last week was also a finalist in my CYBILS category for poetry: CROWN: An Ode to the FRESH CUT, deftly written by Derrick Barnes and gloriously illustrated by Gordon C. James. A series of short poems unfold in a cumulative homage to the power of a skilled barber to shape a life:

"You came in as a lump of clay

a blank canvas, a slab of marble.

But when my man is done with you,

they'll want to post you up in a museum!
That's my word!"

The flow of each phrase, image, and page-turn draws readers on to a flourishing conclusion, providing for some a pure revelation of the culture of a barbershop focused on maximizing the unique qualities of African American hair. For others this will be a mirror of their own lives, revealing every angle and sheen with each turn of phrase and shift of perspective. The density of color and tone, the finesse of positioning and perspective, and the subtle depth and humor in this picture book make the individuals spring to life and claim their place in the world, far beyond the world of a barbershop. They are both specific and universal, entirely complex and appealing, and unforgettable.

Penny Candy Books, 2018

This second picture book may garner similar awards for the coming year. THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A BLACK BOY, is written by Tony Medina in tanka poetry form, with each spread illustrated by a noted, often award-winning, black illustrator. Each spread reveals a specific facet of young black boys'/men's experience. As with CROWN (above), these poems and images will reflect or reveal to readers aspects of black lives that resonate, surprise, inspire, and excite. Even more so, they will individualize and personalize lives that matter, erasing assumptions and stereotypes. Read just one sample, here, and see how perfectly these two picture books will serve to compare, contrast, and consider:

Brothers Gonna Work It Out

We righteous Black men

Patrol the should of this 'hood

Raise young bloods proper

To be the kings they are

Crowned glory of our future

Even though the poems and images are compelling, even captivating, but pull yourself away from those spreads long enough to read the introduction, the brief artist biographies in the back, and the thank you note from the author.

Finally, I can't personally recommend the recently released  movie, BLACK PANTHER, because I haven't seen it yet. Nevertheless, I plan to see it as soon as possible and  recommend it for the same reason as the two picture books featured here. Until I do, there is a graphic novel/comic book update of the original Marvel Comics by none other than Ta-Nehisi Coates: BLACK PANTHER: A Nation Under Our Feet. Of course this is not aimed at the typical picture book audience. Still, I've developed that surprising number of page views over the past years in part because of the premise of this blog: picture books (and comic books, and graphic novels) have a particular power that can reach readers of any age. I'm convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that these are just precursors to a wave of books and other media that will invite new and open-minded views of "Black lives", not only for non-black readers but for readers of every ethnicity.

Do yourselves a favor and read all three!

In Daddy's Arms... a Mirror for ALL of Us

I'm nearly ready to post a series about some of the picture book poetry nominees I'm reviewing as a CYBILS panelist this season. Winnowing is no easy process, but one that I enjoy. For today, though, I want to spotlight three picture books that aren't among the nominees for 2017. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, so I found myself running long on this one, and also sending readers to multiple cross-links. Please consider following my leads.

Veterans Day had me thinking about my dad, a WWII German-American soldier who was fighting on his grandparent's homeland. Earlier this year I reviewed JABARI JUMPS, by Gaia Cornwall.  If you missed it, I hope you'll take a moment to click the title above and read about the book, about the way it connected me to memories of Dad. Not only will it mean you'll get to know a bit about him, but also about  a book that continues to win praise from far-more-influential reviewers than I am. Look for this title to float to the top during end-of-year awards season. 

One of the most enjoyable things about having this blog is that it allows me to explore inner connections and reactions, (okay, emotions), that might otherwise get only passing attention from me while reading. Warm, sometimes worrisome, responses triggered by words and images on the page are essential to being "a reader". When the process of engaging with discreet text and pictures reveals a whole world in your hands, a world that vibrates through you and awakens memories, emotions, and connections, you know you are really reading.

Lee & Low Books, 2001

It's fun to read and review a newly released picture book like Jabari Jumps and celebrate it here, even before a tidal wave of praise and support arrived via social media. It's also fun to make a quiet discovery, to share it year after year and see its effects on young readers, only to learn much later that it had been awarded accolades that I was too busy teaching to notice at the time. 
IN DADDY'S ARMS I AM TALL: AFRICAN AMERICANS CELEBRATING FATHERS, an anthology edited by Javaka Steptoe, is such a book. My classroom copy of this book was worn-thin and replaced several times in the span of a few years. This long-time favorite collection of poems foreshadowed, in a sense, the current wave of anthologies (both poetry and prose) by  long-successful and newly minted diverse authors. It's loaded with poems kids love to memorize, to use as mentor text or forms, and to internalize- regardless the readers' ethnicities. My classroom students, though diverse, were primarily as "white" as I am, but the love within the pages transcended the images and settings to connect with the truth of each poem. 
What truth?
Just read that title.
There is no larger truth than that- IN DADDY'S ARMS I AM TALL. 

Pair this with a more recent release, CROWN: AN ODE TO THE FRESH CUT, written by Derrick Barnes and illustrated by Gordon C. Hayes. 
I found this to be a brilliant blend of text and illustration, inviting readers through the door of a black barbershop, into the cultural experience of transformation and observation, to the process of growing into yourself and into your community. It's a celebration in concept and images, each with rhythm and depth, both with shimmer and shine, delivered with swagger and smiles. 
The afterward was particularly moving, to me, after recently hearing an interview with Gary Younge, author of ANOTHER DAY IN THE DEATH OF AMERICA, on my local NPR station, WUWM. I encourage you to listen to the full interview linked above.
Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review, and I'd give it one, if I had one to give. But I disagree with three words in their note:
"One of the best reads for young black boys in years, it should be in every library, media center, and, yes, barbershop." 
Their statement is true, as far as it goes. I fear, though, that it will be seen as a book for YOUNG BLACK BOYS (which it is) but ONLY for them. Worse yet, only during February.
The only kinks I had in my hair were at Easter, the day after Mom sat me on a stool in the kitchen and gave me a "TONETTE". It fried my hair to frizz and kept my Easter bonnet from fitting. Even so, as I did with Jabari Jumps, as I and my students did with In My Daddy's Arms I AM Tall,  in this book, I found connection. It was easy to sense the truth underlying both common and different experiences. 
One of my earliest posts, written just weeks after launching this blog, was titled, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. Reading that might make what I say next more understandable. 
I recently heard a woman interviewed, a member of a white-nationalist group. She claimed to be one of the "fine" people taking part in recent protests throughout the country. She insisted that she didn't hate anyone or any race, she was just so tired of having everything "in her face". Why couldn't we go back to the way things were? (Paraphrasing, except for the quote.) She specified, when asked, that "everything" meant media displaying mixed couples, LGBTQIA individuals and couples, and "so many blacks" in every kind of program.
I feel certain that, if she read this post or even scanned the book covers, she would ask me, "Why?" Why would I feature THREE books with black characters when there are so many good books out there with whites. WHY would I want to erase her and her race from discussion? It's not even FEBRUARY!
My answer would be too long to include here, but this is the gist of it: 
These books are about HER, about her sons, their fathers, her community. 
She just sin't willing to find those connections, to look into the books and see herself reflected there. To recognize that the distinctions are important but the similarities are even greater.
After all, that's what those "many good books" about "whites" would say to any people of color or difference, right? That's the "in your face" reality, still, for 95+% of the books that people of color and difference encounter on most library, classroom, and bookstore shelves.  We  ask "others" to find themselves and their truths within  the words and pages  of "white" books NOW nearly as often as we have for centuries. Let's realize that they are provided NO CHOICE but to succeed in that "in your face" effort. Shouldn't we do the same? If we fail to see ourselves in these works, to connect at a visceral level with experiences and identities that are not our own, isn't it our own failure? 
Until we can do that, spontaneously, naturally, eagerly, our society will continue to see surface differences as barriers rather than mirrors. 
And we'll miss opportunities to find our own truths and emotions in everyone we meet.