Inspiring and healing as it educates, this volume belongs beside its companion on every bookshelf.
Harrison celebrated black women of note in Little Leaders (2017); here, with an assist from Johnson, she presents a companion volume of profiles from black history, this one focusing on black men.
This is a book many have been waiting for, and it does not disappoint. The winning formula that endeared Little Leaders to readers is employed again here: One page of biographical text faces a full-page portrait of a young-looking figure with a serenely smiling brown face with closed eyes. The figure’s clothing and the background setting design represent his field of contribution. The text begins with each leader’s early life and is held together with a thread showing how the leader found an interest, learned and improved, worked hard, and made his work matter in the lives of others. Ordered chronologically, the names include well-known figures such as Frederick Douglass, Alvin Ailey, and Prince, but there are also many lesser-known names, such as historian Arturo Schomburg and astronaut Leland Melvin. Included also are international legends, such as Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène and British Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye. Whereas hairstyling details created an illusion of visual variation in Little Leaders, here the uniformity of the portraits’ faces is more pronounced—yet this allows readers to see that a black boy can play at and ultimately grow into any one of these roles. A “Draw Your Own Little Legend” spread at the end invites readers into Harrison’s creative process.
Inspiring and healing as it educates, this volume belongs beside its companion on every bookshelf. (further bios, further reading, sources) (Collective biography. 7-12)Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-47514-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Quick and slick, but ably makes its case.
The distinguished jurist stands tall as a role model.
Not literally tall, of course—not only was she actually tiny but, as with all the other bobbleheaded caricatures in the “Ordinary People Change the World” series, Ginsburg, sporting huge eyeglasses on an outsize head over black judicial robes even in childhood, remains a doll-like figure in all of Eliopoulos’ cartoon scenes. It’s in the frank acknowledgment of the sexism and antisemitism she resolutely overcame as she went from reading about “real female heroes” to becoming one—and also the clear statement of how she so brilliantly applied the principle of “tikkun olam” (“repairing the world”) in her career to the notion that women and men should have the same legal rights—that her stature comes clear. For all the brevity of his profile, Meltzer spares some attention for her private life, too (“This is Marty. He loved me, and he loved my brains. So I married him!”). Other judicial activists of the past and present, all identified and including the current crop of female Supreme Court justices, line up with a diversely hued and abled group of younger followers to pay tribute in final scenes. “Fight for the things you care about,” as a typically savvy final quote has it, “but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Quick and slick, but ably makes its case. (timeline, photos, source list, further reading) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780593533338
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
Misleading title aside, a serviceable addition to the growing shelf of presidential picture books.
Reader, beware; this isn’t exactly a story about Abraham Lincoln’s storied stovepipe hat.
Before he became an American legend and the leader of the free world, Lincoln practiced law in Springfield, Illinois, where he struggled to stay organized. His creative solution to records management was to stow the most pressing documents inside his now-famous hat. With this colorful anecdote as a brief preamble, Brenner proceeds to deliver a jam-packed overview of Lincoln’s celebrated legal career leading up to his presidency. The text rapidly moves between recitations of Lincoln’s memorable courtroom cases and exploits as a country lawyer; unfortunately, the pacing sometimes sags. Although historians debate Lincoln’s legacy, this profile presents a largely idealized portrait of the 16th president, upholding his legacy as the Great Emancipator; one double-spread illustration shows Lincoln smiling paternalistically at a group of disturbingly expressionless Black people. To Brenner’s credit, the text does briefly acknowledge the ongoing Colonial displacement of Indigenous peoples that was well underway during the president’s lifetime as well as Lincoln’s “middle position on slavery.” Children should read this work with an adult who can scaffold their exploration of the complex subject matter. The illustrations alternate between color and black-and-white palettes and are rendered, fittingly, in a midcentury-modern style that both hearkens to the past and looks toward the present day.
Misleading title aside, a serviceable addition to the growing shelf of presidential picture books. (afterword, sources, notes) (Picture book biography. 7-12)Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-525-64717-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
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