Your Life Matters
by Chris Singleton (Author) Taylor Barron (Illustrator)
Empowering and validating, Your Life Matters reassures Black children everywhere that no matter what they hear, no matter what they experience, no matter what they're told, their lives matter.
Written by national speaker Chris Singleton, who lost his own mother in the 2015 Charleston church shooting, Your Life Matters teaches kids to stand tall in the face of racial adversity and fight for the life they dream of. Each page depicts a famous hero from Black history mentoring a child of today and encouraging them to use their mind, heart, voice, and hands in that fight.
Hero-mentors in the book include: Maya Angelou, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aretha Franklin, Katherine Johnson, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Mary McLeod Bethune, George Washington Carver, and others.
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School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1-An engaging text to introduce conversations about race with young readers. Children absorb the messaging from the world around them, and in these volatile times, and Black children may feel a heightened sense of despair and question the value of their own lives. This book makes that question palpable; in one scene, a Black mother is comforting her daughter as they watch the news alongside the passage, "Headlines glow. Sirens wail. A question presses in the dark: 'Does my life matter?'" Readers quickly learn the answer. Yes, Black children's lives matter. Singleton's heartening text and Barron's rich jewel-tone illustrations are inspiring. Each illustration features one or more of ten Black heroes-Katherine Johnson, George Washington Carver, and Jackie Robinson, among them-uplifting a child and showing them the power in their strength, voice, courage, hands, words, and heart. No matter the ills of the world, Black children are "beautifully wonderfully made." Back matter helps readers identify and learn more about the heroes. VERDICT Equal parts homage to Black historical and contemporary figures and a reminder of the greatness that lives within each Black child, this is a title for every collection.
Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
JUV039120 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Prejudice & Racism
