(1) K-3 Illustrated by Khalif Tahir Thompson. In an expressive second-person text addressed to her subject, Weatherford celebrates the life and legacy of the esteemed novelist, professor, and Nobel Laureate. Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, Morrison (1931–2019) falls under the "spell of the spoken word" at an early age. Weatherford emphasizes Morrison's trailblazing firsts (first in her family to attend college, first Black senior editor in publishing, first Black woman Nobel Laureate), beginning with first grade: she is the only Black girl in her class, and "the only one who can read. All by yourself." The act of listening is an organizing theme: listening to music and stories as a girl, "to your surroundings," "to your heart," to students and colleagues, to "overlooked and underrepresented" Black voices. When she moves to Washington, DC, to attend Howard University, Morrison becomes even more keenly aware of pervasive racial injustice, heeding "the call to conscience...vowing to write about and for Black people." Thompson's stunning artwork, rendered in "acrylic, oil paint, collage, handmade paper, and stencils on canvas board," has a dignity that reflects Morrison's stature in the literary world. The varied compositions are alive with texture and color, and a regal portrait of Morrison in the role of Queen Elizabeth I for a college theater production is especially powerful. Both the reverent art and the text provide an intimate glimpse into Morrison's remarkable life story. An author's note, a detailed timeline, and a bibliography are appended.

Reviewer: Pauletta Brown Bracy | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Chloe Bristol. "Ursula Nordstrom was a grown-up who never forgot what it was to be a child." Kephart's picture-book biography of legendary Harper editor Nordstrom (1910-1988)--who published so many classics of mid-twentieth-century children's literature--captures her passion for her work, her close relationships with writers and artists, her eagerness to discover new talent, her affinity for child readers. The book begins with Nordstrom's rather solitary and fraught childhood (her parents often fought, then divorced) before moving on to her adult life (rising through the ranks to become head of Harper's children's division). Kephart hits her stride when describing Nordstrom as an editor, backing up every general statement with an example and often a quote. She liberally sprinkles the text with Nordstrom's own words ("'Answer that!' she'd yell at her assistant when the phone would ring. 'That could be the next Mark Twain'"), treating readers to her distinct voice and personality and lending the text unusual immediacy. Bristol's illustrations nicely establish time and place and include appearances by some of the stellar creators Nordstrom nurtured, including E. B. White, Margaret Wise Brown, Maurice Sendak, and John Steptoe. Leaving aside the question of what Nordstrom might have thought about the child appeal of a picture-book biography about a book editor (however groundbreaking and remarkable), this is an excellent encapsulation of a seminal figure in children's books. An author's note and bibliography are appended.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Claire Keane. This story spans decades, introducing two artists separately until Nancy Schön (born 1928) begins work on her sculptures of Robert McCloskey's (1914–2003) beloved duckling characters for Boston's Public Garden. Kunkel (­Digging for Words, rev. 1/21) dips into and out of each creator's story line smoothly and effectively, advancing the narrative to get to the heart of the book: how an illustrator's drawings were re-envisioned by a sculptor as three-dimensional public art. Keane's digital illustrations on sepia-tinted backgrounds have an appropriately vintage look; her loose lines and energetic compositions are a good match for the conversational (and lengthy) text. After some brief background about each artist's early years, three double-page spreads neatly outline McCloskey's path to the publication of Make Way for Ducklings in 1941. Schön's artistic career is more circuitous (raising a family is her priority), and she receives less recognition; once she conceives of the duckling project, Kunkel focuses on the sculptor's meticulous process, along with the added pressure of interpreting a living artist's iconic characters. Scenes of meetings between McCloskey and Schön reveal how the two navigated a potentially tricky collaboration. An author's note and timeline provide more detail about the subjects and the sculptures. For more on McCloskey and the creation of his Caldecott Medal–winning book, read Smith's Mr. McCloskey's Marvelous Mallards (rev. 11/22).

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Brian Floca. British illustrator Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886) transformed illustrated books for children ("stiff, full of pretty poses and cluttered scenery") into picture books (ones that featured stories that "tumble[d] forth like life"). Markel briefly covers Caldecott's boyhood, emphasizing his love of drawing and of the outdoors, the latter despite a weak heart. She speaks directly to readers, telling them to move fast ("Quick!") or they'll miss the boy McClintock depicts as racing across the page. As an adult, Caldecott works in a bank but keeps drawing and begins illustrating travel books and, eventually, books for children. Markel emphasizes the artist's ability to capture action on the page and fills this lively text with bustling active verbs (lunging, strutting, pounce4), set off in larger letters and a different font color. Likewise, McClintock's exquisite, energetic illustrations depict Caldecott at the drawing board, creatures bursting forth from his paper. Several instances in the book reproduce the artist's drawings, and one stunning wordless spread showcases the illustration from The Diverting History of John Gilpin that adorns the Caldecott Medal. (The book's abundant back matter includes notes on where Caldecott's art appears in the book.) Children and/or animals appear on nearly every spread of this exuberant tribute to the illustrator who revolutionized children's books.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Eric Velasquez. Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960) was a mail carrier whose work took him all across New Jersey. Though well-loved on his routes, Green knew the danger he faced as a Black man anytime he went somewhere unfamiliar. This prompted the energetic Green, who "had great get-up-and-go," to create a guide for Black people to find safe places to stop, eat, and stay when road-tripping on the nation's newly built highways and turnpikes. Called the Green Book, this handbook grew from "just a pamphlet" listing welcoming places in the New York City area in 1936, to a 1940 edition featuring amenities in large cities in every state plus Washington, DC, and standing as a useful--and possibly life-saving--tool for Black travelers well into the 1960s. Velasquez's scrapbook-style, painterly vignettes capture period detail and nimbly complement Bolden's conversational free-verse text ("These travelers, / whether going places with smiles / or with tears in their eyes, / could face / hassles, humiliation, hardships"). Back matter includes a timeline, source notes, and selected sources.

Reviewer: Sam Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by James E. Ransome. This picture-book biography of writer Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford), by the team behind Freedom Bird (rev. 1/20), pays homage to its renowned subject and the wondrous power of storytelling. In childhood, Morrison was a listener, relishing the stories and music shared by her parents and grandparents. She was also an avid reader and continued to read more and more, "feeding a hunger that would never end." After attending college and graduate school and a brief teaching career, she began working as an editor in New York, at which time she started to write, publishing many books and winning awards for her stories about the lives of Black people in America. Nolen emphasizes Morrison's uncanny gift for storytelling ("She could look beyond things as they were and see a greater vision") and celebrates her not only as a brilliant writer but also as an inspiration to others. The straightforward main narrative is appealingly accompanied by words floating at the tops of pages in a storyteller's voice ("I'm telling you, that girl was magic"). Ransome's expressive watercolor and collage illustrations, delivered as mostly double-page spreads, are perfectly matched to the text and especially compelling in conveying a sense of Morrison's profound legacy. Back matter includes an author's note, a bibliography, important quotes, and a list of select achievements.

Reviewer: Pauletta Brown Bracy | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Becca Stadtlander. On page one of this true story behind the making of the 1942 Caldecott-winning Make Way for Ducklings, readers see legendary author-illustrator McCloskey hard at work in his studio. After completing his first children's book (Lentil, 1940), he wants to put mallard ducks into a story but struggles to draw them correctly. He brings home a box of "very alive (and very LOUD)" ducklings after deciding that he needs "live models." They wreak havoc, but he "was willing to do whatever it took to make these drawings perfect," and in the end, the drawings were "absolutely top-notch!" Smith emphasizes her subject's determination (respectfully referring to him throughout as "Mr. McCloskey"), with the spreads depicting the ducks' "terrible mess" and "infernal quacking" being sure to delight young readers. Stadtlander captures it all in thickly textured gouache and colored-pencil illustrations. Back matter includes a note from McCloskey's daughter Jane; information about publisher Viking's May Massee, the exacting editor depicted in the story; a timeline; and more. Children's literature aficionados will note mention of McCloskey's roommate (who was, in point of fact, illustrator Marc Simont) and will also note the story's absence of red wine, which he and Simont fed the ducks to slow them down for easier drawing. This is the children's version of that tale, after all--and a satisfying one at that.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Adelina Lirius. This picture book, a partial biography co-written by L'Engle's granddaughter, Voiklis, begins when baby Madeleine's parents introduce her to the stars in the night sky, a formative memory. It then takes readers through her childhood and early career, and up to the storied publication of her 1963 Newbery Award–­winning classic, A Wrinkle in Time. ­Flowing throughout the text is the ­connection between humanity and the stars, both metaphorical and scientific, from which L'Engle drew comfort and inspiration. Full of stars and starlight, the digital illustrations, with some elements painted traditionally with gouache, blend reality and the fantastical in glorious contrasting colors and swirling lines. Text incorporated into the art poses questions that the author herself might have asked, offering opportunities for readers to consider their own answers: "What is my place in the universe?" "Should I keep doing this?" The questions change as she matures but are always rooted in the themes of finding purpose and fulfillment. The book celebrates L'Engle for her writing career but also for her inquisitive approach to the world around her, highlighting her love of music, art, theater, and stories. For those whose interest is piqued, expansive back matter provides more insight into L'Engle's life and work as well as the ­creators' connections to her.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) YA Co-founder (with his wife, Cheryl Willis Hudson) of the pioneering Black publishing company Just Us Books, Wade Hudson here recalls his childhood and teen years in the small northern Louisiana town of Mansfield in the 1950s and 1960s. Hudson opens and closes the memoir with an account of being arrested on a ginned-up conspiracy charge while he was a student activist at Southern University in Baton Rouge. In between, we see his formative years in Mansfield, where as a seventh grader he notes, "I could count on one hand the number of White kids my age that I had seen." Church, current events, and baseball (pitcher Vida Blue was a teammate) were Wade's preoccupations, as well as a growing racial consciousness nurtured by all of the above. The telling is plainspoken and direct, and the town, filled with friends and extended family, is practically a character in itself. It takes a village, indeed. Appended matter includes notes, sources, and a timeline to place Hudson's story within its tumultuous context.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Daria Peoples-Riley. This illustrated biography of Steinem provides a brief overview of her lifelong interest in personal freedom and her role in the women's liberation movement. Rinker deftly highlights Steinem's main agenda without overwhelming young readers with too much detail and background. The ink, gouache, and watercolor illustrations capture the essence of Steinem's time and place in the world. Author's and illustrator's notes appended. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Sarah Watts. Emily Crane (Book Scavenger; The Unbreakable Code) is feeling the pressure of her outsized reputation as a puzzle-solver at publisher Garrison Griswold's elaborate mystery game night on Alcatraz Island. Then an actual mystery involving a reclusive author arises. Readers can work the puzzles alongside Emily and friends in this cheery celebration of San Francisco landmarks, ciphers and codes, and close friends working as a team.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) YA A thorough, clear introduction to the concepts of fandom and fanworks, aimed primarily at those new to the subculture. DiPiazza uses plenty of examples from--and quotes from members of--a variety of fandoms, and she doesn't shy away from discussing controversies such as the misogynistic harassment of Gamergate. Black-and-green graphics and relevant photos break up the text. Reading list, websites. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(4) K-3 First Facts: All About Media series. These volumes provide very basic (sometimes confusing or incomplete) information about various print- and digital media and research methods. Source gives examples (e.g., books, internet, primary sources) while the meatier Opinions helps readers become critical consumers ("Ask questions to figure out the media maker's purpose"). Helpful sidebars appear throughout, and stock photos show kids working in the library and elsewhere. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these First Facts: All About Media titles: Fact, Fiction, and Opinions and What's Your Source?

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Illustrated by Gustavo Mazali. This beginning-reader biography of Ben Franklin provides a friendly and inviting look at his life. Mazali's engaging cartoonlike illustrations accompany descriptions of Franklin's major accomplishments and inventions in text appropriately leveled "for developing readers." Back matter highlights primary sources, portraits, and inventions. Timeline.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello