GRIT

Biographical vignettes feature 18 real-life people who overcame great obstacles.

The famous subjects (six of whom are people of color) showcased in this eclectic collection have one major thing in common: They all weathered through hardships before achieving success. Each four-page profile begins with an illustrated portrait of the biographee—rendered in the same mixed-media digital collage style—and ends with a few questions to ponder. These reflection prompts make great conversation starters to help caregivers or educators delve deeper with young readers. The book succeeds as a motivational album that can be used for teaching older children the value of perseverance and mental toughness when times get rough. However, it occasionally falls prey to a simplistic pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps philosophy, painting some of the subjects as self-made luminaries while overlooking the communities and social privileges that buttressed them. The collection also seems to give too much weight to the idea of innate talent—none of the subjects struggle with being initially bad at their pursuits. Ultimately, the book may end up sending children mixed messages about the value of natural aptitude versus hard work. The text has a didactic tone and is unnecessarily sanitized; it doesn’t mention Ellen DeGeneres’ sexuality, even obliquely, despite her coming out being a huge stumbling block in her career.

Great intentions with inconsistent execution.