The best children's (and adult) books featuring every kind of person.
Author: colorfulbookreviews
I work in a library by day and parent the rest of the time. I am passionate about good books representing the full spectrum of human diversity for every age group and reading level. This blog is my attempt to help parents, educators, and librarians find the best children's books authored by or featuring characters of color.
“But for a goldfish, the wild promises abundance. Release a goldfish and it will never look back. Nothing fully lives in a bowl; it only learns to survive it.” page 19
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler, illustrated by Simon Ban. Little, Brown, and Company, New York, 2022. Adult nonfiction, 264 pages. Not leveled.
A unique combination of memoir and science writing by a queer, non-binary, Asian-American author.
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler, illustrated by Simon Ban.
Although I’ve gotten back into reading nonfiction again, as of this writing the process has been slow and painful, and it’s harder for adult books to catch and keep my attention. The appealing cover design of this definitely helped, but after starting the first essay, I was hooked.
I haven’t reviewed too many essay collections here lately, so a reminder that I usually consider each separately and then discuss the book as a whole.
“Justin looked at his grandpa. Their eyes caught. A warmth spread over Justin and he lowered his eyes. He wished he could tell his grandpa all he felt, how much he loved him.” page 68
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World by Mildred Pitts Walter, illustrated by Catherine Stock. Amistad, HarperCollins, New York, originally published 1986, my edition 2010. Realistic/historical fiction, 132 pages. Lexile: 620L . AR Level: 3.9 (worth 3.0) .
Ten-year-old Justin doesn’t see why anyone expects him to clean his room, help with the dishes, or do any sort of housework. After all, his older sisters and mother always do it better than him anyway, so they must just be naturally better at it, right? That is, until he’s invited to stay on Grandpa’s ranch, where men learn how to do things they don’t know yet. Justin also attends a fair, learns about Black cowboys, helps ride fence, and is surprised by the history of his own family. Then he comes back home with a surprise of his own.
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World by Mildred Pitts Walter, illustrated by Catherine Stock.
Credit where credit is due, our reading of this book was entirely based off Heritage Mom’s recommendation on this list, which I found so helpful – we already had a few, but I bought most of the rest (as I write this I’m reading her book also). Her youth book group also did this book so she has a guide as well.
“Open wide your arms to life, / Whirl in the wind of pain and strife, / Face the wall with the dark closed gate, / Beat with bare, brown fists – / And wait.” page 29 (excerpt from poem “Song”)
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Originally published in 1932 by Alfred A. Knopf, my edition Scholastic, New York, 1994. Poetry collection, 84 pages. Lexile: 1150L . AR Level: Not leveled.
Langston Hughes’ own selection and arrangement of his poems for young readers.
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
It’s books like this one that especially point out the lie that early literary education is not able to be diverse. Although my particular version was published in the early 90s, this book has been around since 1932!
The book opens with an introductory essay by Lee Bennett Hopkins, which succinctly summarizes the key points of Hughes’ life. It is skippable, but does add valuable context for those who choose to read it.
A Fire in My Hands: A Book of Poems by Gary Soto, illustrated by James M. Cardillo. Scholastic, New York, 1990. Poetry, 64 pages. Lexile: NP . (What does NP mean in Lexile?) AR Level: 5.4 (worth 1.0 points) . NOTE: See review for age appropriateness.
A collection of Gary Soto’s poems about growing up Mexican-American in the San Joaquin valley.
A Fire in My Hands: A Book of Poems by Gary Soto, illustrated by James M. Cardillo.
This was languishing in a little free library we frequent, untouched for far too long. I will probably release it back into a different free book environment if none of the kids I know want it.
With only 23 poems this is a slim volume. I thought at first that all or most were written for this book, but they are reprinted from other books or magazines. The majority come from his collection Black Hair, but some are from other sources.
The book also includes a forward, Q&A, and a few lines introducing each individual poem. That helps give context to the poems, adds more of a narrative flow to the book, and also helps make it a bit more substantial. It makes the collection more useful for teachers too.
“Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: / That even as we grieved, we grew, / That even as we hurt, we hoped, / That even as we tired, we tried.” page 18
The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country by Amanda Gorman, with a foreword by Oprah Winfrey. Viking, Penguin Random House, New York, 2021. Poem, 32 pages. Lexile: not leveled. AR Level: 5.1 (worth 0.5 points) . NOTE: While the brief introduction is unique to this book, and the formatting differs slightly, you can read the full text of the poem, or watch it read by the author, on many websites.
An inaugural poem in book format.
The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country by Amanda Gorman, foreword by Oprah Winfrey.
The 2021 inauguration was certainly a memorable one. Among the many happenings surrounding that election and installation of a new US president, Amanda Gorman was a surprising breakout star. Poets reading at inaugurations is not a novel concept – it’s been done for 60 years, although not at every single inauguration.
Gorman shone partly because she was not well known before the inauguration, but mostly because everything about her was on point. Her hair, clothes, deportment, poem, and delivery all stood out in the crowd. Although she already had a collection in the works, the popularity of this poem was so intense that it was rushed into print as a book by itself, and sold well.
“My little black baby, my dark body’s baby, what shall I sing for your lullaby?” page nine
Lullaby for a Black Mother by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Sean Qualls. Text copyright 1994, illustrations copyright 2013, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA. Board book, 20 pages.
The text of a famous poem illustrated and reformatted as a board book.
Lullaby for a Black Mother by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Sean Qualls.
One of my children adores Langston Hughes, and I wish I’d had this when she was younger. Instead, I asked her to read it to the little one staying with us, and enjoyed her surprise and delight when she flipped back to the cover – “This is my poet!”
Of course, Langston Hughes died nearly half a century ago, so how is he still publishing new books? This isn’t new writing rediscovered – it’s a poem that can be found in Hughes’ collection for young readers, The Dream Keeper as well as his collected poems and probably elsewhere.
Where Lullaby for a Black Mother excels is in the alteration of the poem into the board book format. The poem is well broken down, with each spread containing between one phrase up to a full sentence worth of the poem. All of the text is entirely in all caps, which initially struck me as a bold choice, but makes sense for extending the life of the book.
“The thing about Lulu and me is that we’re at once incompatible and really close. We can have a great time but also hurt each other deeply. […] Jed has never understood how one minute Lulu and I will be screaming death threats at each other, and the next minute we’ll be lying in bed, Lulu’s arms wrapped around me, talking about violins or reading and laughing together.” page 116
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. Penguin, New York, 2011. Adult nonfiction, 244 pages. Not leveled.
The story of a mother who tries to apply strict Chinese parenting techniques to her American daughters and finds that she’s making all of them miserable.
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.
Just as I’m working on my goal of trying to write negative and neutral reviews (and thus be able to pass along those books and clear shelves), I was given books by a few different acquaintances. This was exciting as new-to-me books always are, and it was frustrating because there were far more books incoming than outgoing on these review shelves! So I did a push to read and review several in order to keep things moving. Among them were some Amy Chua books, and this was the earliest published so I gave it a try.
“When I opened my eyes, I was, indeed, back home again. I took a deep, shaky breath. I was tingling all over.” page 49
The Cassandra Curse (Muse Squad #1) by Chantel Acevedo. Balzer & Bray, HarperCollins, New York, 2020. MG fantasy, 360 pages. Lexile: 650L . AR Level: 4.6 (worth 12.0) .
Weird things have been happening to Calliope Martinez-Silva (call her Callie, please). She has a terrifying accident, her best friend transforms into a pop star, then she’s informed that she’s one of the nine Muses and a portal sends her to another country. It’s a lot for an eleven-year old! Thankfully there are some other young Muses too, which is timely because with her best friend unrecognizable, Callie needs some backup.
Muse Squad: The Cassandra Curse by Chantel Acevedo.
This book has so much going on. There’s the usual tween intrigue, but made bearable thanks to the magical and mystery aspects. There’s learning to be a muse, and all the different muses from around the world who each have specific powers and callings, and the many many people in Callie’s life and whom she meets on her adventures.
“Ch’idzigyaak sat quietly as if trying to make up her confused mind. A small feeling of hope sparked in the blackness of her being as she listened to her friend’s strong words.” page 15
Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis, illustrated by James Grant. Originally published Epicenter Press 1993, my edition HarperCollins, New York, 2013. Adult folklore retelling, 134 pages. Lexile: 1030L . AR Level: 6.4 (worth 3.0 points) .
Two elderly women known mainly for complaining are left behind when their people move on in a time of starvation and hardship. If they are to survive in the Arctic, it will take all of their knowledge, strength and determination, plus reserves, or luck, they might not even know they have.
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis.
I took a chance on this one at a used book sale that absolutely paid off. Browsing time was short, and the story looked interesting, but the blurb simply stated that Wallis was “raised with traditional Athabascan values.” This is burying the lede that Wallis is herself Athabascan and thus particularly well suited to write this Gwich’in tale.
I was delighted to see that illustrator Jim Grant is also an Athabaskan native. Most chapters have one or two illustrations (one has none and another has three), and there are also some maps and the chapter ornament. One illustration is full-page, the rest are half-page or less. There are also two frontispieces which depict similar scenes to those found later, but are not the same as those within the chapters. All of the pictures are inserted where they make sense, and have some relevance to the narrative.
Pages 48 and 49 of Two Old Women show one of the full page illustrations, and an example of the text format.
We get a hint of Wallis’ approach to this story when, after the title page, she steps into the dedication – no apologies for those left out, no fluff about how important each person is, simply several pages of names preceded by
This book is dedicated to all of the elders who I have known and who have made an impression in my mind with their wisdom, knowledge and uniqueness.
page ix
Having thanked the elders first, Wallis then steps into a brief, more traditional acknowledgements page which ends with a thank you (Mahsi Choo) to her readers. Only then does she turn to the Introduction about how she first heard this story, her choice to adapt it, and the setting.
“This is not just a book for Black people. It’s a book for *all people* about Black people.” Front matter, emphasis from the author
Black Hollywood: Reimagining Iconic Movie Moments by Carell Augustus. Ebony Magazine Publishing with Sourcebooks, Naperville, Illinois, 2022. Art book, 230 pages. Not leveled.
Photographs from an eleven year project to recreate iconic movie posters, screen moments, and pinups with Black models.
Black Hollywood: Reimagining Iconic Movie Moments by Carell Augustus.
Over the last few years I’ve been trying to expand our art collection. We’ve reached the “some disposable income” stage but definitely not the “buy independent artworks” level of wealth. Libraries, digital collections, and museums have been wonderful but I’d like to have more at home. Thus calendars, postcards, and art books!
Because art books tend to be pricey, I usually research and apply coupons, wait for seasonal sales, or buy used. This one was more of an impulse purchase – saw a new copy at 50% discount and bought it without the previewing that I normally would have done.
You know how some kids are really into sneakers, or horses, or rap, or drawing? I was a book kid and always have been, so movies, television, and such tend to be what other people around me want to watch, rather than something I seek out. Honestly, I’d probably only heard of maybe half the movies or people in this book. But I still loved it.
Pages 20 and 21 of Black Hollywood include a scene from Fight Club with all the characters modeled by Wesley Jonathan and notes from both the model and photographer.
Augustus recreates a wide variety of films including comedies, science fiction, horror, and action movies, as well as some portrayals of specific people (like Marilyn Monroe and Charlie Chaplin). The majority, although not all, of his models are actors and actresses.
Colorful Book Reviews 