Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book is well-written and held my kids' attention throughout. The illustrations are also beautiful. What sets it apart from others, though, is that its main focus is not on suffering and overcoming like so many kids books on Black history in America. The focus is more on joy and pride, on overcoming struggles yes, but it tells a much more rich and nuanced history than any picture book I have read. Many focus on MLK or Rosa Parks, or someone who has been the "first" something without really explaining the context of why, or that they were only the first *recognized* by white society, not necessarily the first. While those other stories are of course important, the bigger picture is so much more than just the last 200 years. I also like that the atrocities of slavery and racism are not told in a passive voice. This is what happens when you give people the power to tell their own story. It should be required reading in every classroom in America. My kids couldn't figure out why there was talk of it being banned; they didn't get it. Comparing it to other books and stories I have heard growing up, I get it. No doubt, there will be people who don't want this narrative to become the mainstream. I can see how it might scare folks in power and privilege - White people and institutions are in no way centered in this book, nor should they be. I believe this narrative will eventually become mainstream though, no matter how the old guard fights back. It might take 50 years, but it will happen.