  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 07/01/2018 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 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 07/01/2018 When it seems like all around us there is bad news, tension, injustice, and racism, children now have an additional source of inspiration in their search for peace, strength, equality, and hope in this vibrant and heartfelt anthology. More than 50 authors and illustrators, including such acclaimed luminaries as Jacqueline Woodson, Margarita Engle, Jason Reynolds, Ekua Holmes, and Javaka Steptoe, share their experiences of injustice and their words of advice and encouragement in the forms of poetry, songs, and stories. Some are written in the form of letters to their own children and loved ones; others as heartbreaking stories of their own personal experiences; still others are reminders and advice that should not be forgotten, or powerful poetic words. What they all have in common is a stirring message to readers that they are not alone. The beautiful, poetic text of each story is paired perfectly with the unique, beautifully varied illustrations accompanying them, and together they serve to remind children to never give up, hold their heads up high, and always hold onto hope. - Copyright 2018 Booklist. Loading...
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