(2) PS Illustrated by Philemona Williamson. Lubaya is a quiet child who enjoys being alone, "happily watching the theater of her thoughts." She does not raise her hand in class. She is not first to be picked for sports teams. While her family chats and watches television, she sits in her quiet place behind the couch and draws. Lubaya (whose name means "young lioness" in Swahili) is observant and watchful, and the things she notices--her friends; nature--appear in her drawings, which she makes on the backs of signs her family had earlier brought to protest marches. When the evening news shows an unspecified event that calls for protest ("Oh my God, not again!" cries her mother), her parents ask to reuse the signs. The statement her pictures make at the march becomes Lubaya's "quiet roar," her loud statement to the world, of which people take notice. Nelson and Williamson share the rich interior world of a character who shows readers that everyone has more to them than meets the eye. Children who identify with Lubaya's quiet strength will delight in seeing their experiences reflected here, and children who are more extroverted will get to know another side of their introverted peers. Williamson's vibrant, colorful oil-paint and crayon illustrations use all the space on the pages to show how Lubaya is never fully alone, though she often stands apart. A lovely story by a thoughtful poet and artist.

Reviewer: Autumn Allen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020