We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices

"A love song from children's literature's brightest stars to America's Indigenous children and children of color, encouraging them to be brave and kind."

Gr 3-7--Within these pages is the collected wisdom from dozens of writers and artists who share poems, advice, artwork, passion, concern, love, and experience with the next generation. In the introduction, the editors describe this book as a treasury for children to read, and reread, when they need a boost, or comfort, or love. Every turn of the page is a new and different experience; the tone of the book moves seamlessly from joyful to somber to curious, and inspired, offering children of many different ages a place to land and learn, and find their own lives reflected back at them. Jacqueline Woodson writes a letter to her children about the importance of being kind; Carole Boston Weatherford explores the universality of the golden rule; Tony Medina describes a young girl's despair as her father is taken by immigration officials. The entries are as varied as they are important, working as independent way stations on a map to broader understanding. Beautiful, haunting, and electrifying artwork from familiar names and relative newcomers in children's literature fill the pages, including illustrations from artists such as Innosanto Nagara, Ekua Holmes, and Eric Velasquez that dance among the essays, poems, and letters. VERDICT This is a book to be quietly contemplated, and shared with an adult, as there is much to be discovered from multiple readings. Addressing complex topics with sensitivity and candor, this a necessary purchase for all libraries serving children.--Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Wade and Cheryl Willis Hudson, founders of Just Us Books, offer this empowering anthology to counter today's often-unsettling political climate for children of varying ethnicities, faiths, identities, and abilities. The husband-and-wife team present 30 illustrated essays, poems, stories, and letters from more than 50 diverse children's book creators. Contributions aim to calm, sustain, and inspire children. In "A Talkin'-To," Jason Reynolds reassures readers that "everything bad and frightening and loud/ will always hide when you hold your head up, / will always hide when you hold your heart out." Hena Khan's essay urges Muslim children to educate others about their heritage, and several authors draw on personal lessons from the civil rights movement. Photographs of children and illustrations in a variety of styles, from collage to realistic pastels, warm the pages with colorful imagery. A lengthy end section about the contributors concludes this hope-engendering treasury that truly is, as its foreword states, "a resource for rescue from any pitfalls of the day." Ages 8-12. (Sept.)

Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

"A love song from children's literature's brightest stars to America's Indigenous children and children of color, encouraging them to be brave and kind."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Addressing complex topics with sensitivity and candor, this a necessary purchase for all libraries serving children."—School Library Journal, starred review

"Wade and Cheryl Willis Hudson, founders of Just Us Books, offer this empowering anthology to counter today's often-unsettling political climate for children of varying ethnicities, faiths, identities, and abilities"—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The attractive and accessible presentation will pull kids in; the wisdom they find inside will keep them engaged—and, it is to be hoped, motivated."—Horn Book, starred review