Essential reading for all children—and adults—who hope for freedom for all.
The story of the first-ever White House Passover seder, celebrated by Barack Obama in 2009.
As the Obama family and their guests come together, staffers Herbie Ziskend, Eric Lesser, and Arun Chaudhary recall last year’s seder, an impromptu gathering held in a hotel basement while the then-senator was on the campaign trail. Like his staffers, Obama was homesick, tired, and struggling to maintain hope against the odds. As he and his family joined Herbie, Eric, and Arun in the ritual retelling of the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, they all reflected on how this age-old story still inspired many intertwined struggles for liberation. Obama found the experience so moving that he declared, “Next year in the White House!” The story then flashes forward to 2009 as Michelle Obama calls the event a modern-day miracle: “The descendants of enslaved people are now free to share a meal together in the White House, at the invitation of America’s first Black president.” This elegantly told, behind-the-scenes peek at a momentous historical occasion is simultaneously intimate and solemn, balancing a vision for a more inclusive America with an authentic portrayal of the meaning and rituals of Passover. Lewis’ sophisticated, impressionistic watercolors capture both a sense of grandeur and small moments of tenderness: Herbie, Eric, and Arun sitting in the dingy basement; first daughters Sasha and Malia and their dog Bo searching for the afikomen.
Essential reading for all children—and adults—who hope for freedom for all. (note from Ziskend, Lesser, and Chaudhary; hand-painted Haggadah page; information on the first White House seder, on Black history, and on Passover; photo; recipe for flourless apple apricot cake) (Informational picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593711583
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few...
Shamir offers an investigation of the foundations of freedoms in the United States via its founding documents, as well as movements and individuals who had great impacts on shaping and reshaping those institutions.
The opening pages of this picture book get off to a wobbly start with comments such as “You know that feeling you get…when you see a wide open field that you can run through without worrying about traffic or cars? That’s freedom.” But as the book progresses, Shamir slowly steadies the craft toward that wide-open field of freedom. She notes the many obvious-to-us-now exclusivities that the founding political documents embodied—that the entitled, white, male authors did not extend freedom to enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans, and women—and encourages readers to learn to exercise vigilance and foresight. The gradual inclusion of these left-behind people paints a modestly rosy picture of their circumstances today, and the text seems to give up on explaining how Native Americans continue to be left behind. Still, a vital part of what makes freedom daunting is its constant motion, and that is ably expressed. Numerous boxed tidbits give substance to the bigger political picture. Who were the abolitionists and the suffragists, what were the Montgomery bus boycott and the “Uprising of 20,000”? Faulkner’s artwork conveys settings and emotions quite well, and his drawing of Ruby Bridges is about as darling as it gets. A helpful timeline and bibliography appear as endnotes.
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few misfires. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-54728-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
A good-enough introduction to a contested festivity but one that’s not in step with the community it’s for.
An overview of the modern African-American holiday.
This book arrives at a time when black people in the United States have had intraracial—some serious, some snarky—conversations about Kwanzaa’s relevance nowadays, from its patchwork inspiration that flattens the cultural diversity of the African continent to a single festive story to, relatedly, the earnest blacker-than-thou pretentiousness surrounding it. Both the author and consultant Keith A. Mayes take great pains—and in painfully simplistic language—to provide a context that attempts to refute the internal arguments as much as it informs its intended audience. In fact, Mayes says in the endnotes that young people are Kwanzaa’s “largest audience and most important constituents” and further extends an invitation to all races and ages to join the winter celebration. However, his “young people represent the future” counterpoint—and the book itself—really responds to an echo of an argument, as black communities have moved the conversation out to listen to African communities who critique the holiday’s loose “African-ness” and deep American-ness and moved on to commemorate holidays that have a more historical base in black people’s experiences in the United States, such as Juneteenth. In this context, the explications of Kwanzaa’s principles and symbols and the smattering of accompanying activities feel out of touch.
A good-enough introduction to a contested festivity but one that’s not in step with the community it’s for. (resources, bibliography, glossary, afterword) (Nonfiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2849-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2017
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