I hope you read my post a few days ago, HERE. If so, did the underlying message come through? We are at a time in our nation's history when the effort to lie about truth and deny who we are and how we got to be here is openly admitted and promoted. This practice of denial and redirection has existed throughout our history, but now it is openly touted and enforced illegally. We who are not subject to suppression (that is, NOT people of color) must do more than feel empathy and offer sympathy. Being an ally is not enough. We must openly advocate, even when that endangers us. That is what "using our privilege" means. That did not save Pretti or Good and that means we who have felt "safe" must acknowledge that we have more in common with vulnerable folks than we previously admitted. That's why my approach here is to no longer just write "about books" and those who create them. My commentary going forward will not always relate to current events, but will do so more often and more directly.
Little, Brown, and Company, 2025
GO TELL IT: How james Baldwin Became a Writer is written by Quartez Harris with art by Gordon C. James. Named a Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Honor book by the American Library Association, this biographic approach to Baldwin merits special attention.
Why Baldwin? He's a well-known figure today to say the least, but biographic accounts for young readers can be challenging. The ways to convey facts varies from relating cradle-to-grave, or polarizing life events, or poetic/thematic text to capture the spirit of the subject, or childhood-only events, or focusing on pivotal career events and accomplishments.
Author Harris has chosen a distinctive approach that, I imagine, Baldwin would have embraced. The focus is on Baldwin's lifelong love of words, his recognition of the magical power of words to convey not only information but emotion and imagination. Words "clung to him like glitter", Harris writes. That line is only one example of the care given to create text that Baldwin might have written about himself. The author begins with that line and at the point in life at which Baldwin's reading life began. The earliest pages reveal the many responsibilities he fulfilled within his large family with few resources. With a loving mother and a demanding stepfather.
James immersed himself in reading but also sought and absorbed the language and color and LIFE of his Harlem neighborhood. A reference to his vulnerability as a boy of color among White authorities is portrayed in powerful words and images, with realism but not exaggeration or excess. Facts are facts. Baldwin reacted with anger, an anger that drove him to write.
His writing, his words, creativity, and imagination healed James, to a degree. It empowered him to speak out at his step-father's pulpit while still a boy. To spread a message of love and brotherhood, in contrast to the messages of condemnation and darkness that filled the church. His oratory, the reception of the congregation, and later his labor in many jobs provided the confidence and earnings to move forward.
This biography reveals the critical years in Baldwin's life in which he found his voice through books, local life, pain, acceptance, and finding an outlet for his intelligence and heart. The telling of those years is precise and compelling. Illustrations by inoperable artist Gordon C. James pair with that text to reveal the depth and richness of life inn that time and place. Baldwin is often known for his big eyes and wide grin, for the intensity of his gaze and the mindfulness of his words. All of that is captured on the page in ways that make him no less an icon that adult readers will recognize, but as a developing boy and early adult whose identity and independence were nurtured and tempered by both love and pain. His humanity shines through from the start. The final spread features his debut novel, GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN and credits him with revealing Black urban life in untold ways. Back matter adds further content and the work as a whole is a prompt to read more of Baldwin's work. This is one of those picture books that its ideal for younger audiences but also serves teen readers before launching a study of his works.
In the opening note I urge reader to find ways to openly support Black History Month (and beyond). One suggestion is to flood libraries with requests for BALDWIN titles, to purchase his books, if you are able, and to read them. His voice and eloquence will naturally lead to recommending them to others and encouraging discussions of ways his issues have changed in history, as well as the current events now unfolding. Take the lead.
