78 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANUARY 27, 2020
Review_CHILDREN’S
picture the world as we’d like it to be”—
and the determination to “turn it into
action.” Her brisk reportorial style is
refreshingly straightforward; the story of
how U.S.-China relations defrosted thanks
to an accidental encounter between ping-
pong players Glenn Cowan and Zhuang
Zedong, for example, is easy to access and
helpfully contextualized. Bloch’s (I Voted)
customary playfulness, balletic line, and
splashes of color and texture deliver,
with images that range from soldiers
decorating a battlefield with paints to
a family on a seesaw catapulting an
authoritarian figure into the air. A final
question encourages reader engagement:
“What if you could change the world?”
Ages 8–12. (Mar.)★ Box: Henry Brown Mails
Himself to Freedom
Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. by Michele
Wood. Candlewick, $17.99 (56p) ISBN 978-0-
7636-9156-1
A powerful assortment of colors, tex-
tures, and artistic styles illustrate this true
story of how Henry “Box” Brown escaped
enslavement in 1849 via a harrowing
journey inside a sealed crate. “Inside/
One/ Box/ To/ Flee/ Another,” explains
one of the more than 50 short poems
that comprise this vivid account. Told
in Brown’s voice, all but one contain six
lines: the number of sides in a cube.
Weatherford (The Roots of Rap) bases
often-lyrical free verse on Brown’s own
narrative, excerpted in the opening
spread. Detailed stanzas, each beginning
with a single descriptive term, touch on
the brutality of slavery (“Overseers”);
the torment that awaited resisters
(“Nat”); Brown’s deep anguish over
losing his first wife and children, sold and
forever separated from him (“Courage”);
and his subsequent life as a free man
(“BOX”). His traumatic, stifling two-day
journey (“Baggage”) from Virginia to
Philadelphia occurs over several claus-
trophobic spreads. Elaborate mixed-
media collages by Wood (Clap Your
Hands) employ a box motif, featuring
Escher-like cubes alongside folded paper
and painted quilt squares. A timeline,
notes, and bibliography conclude this
rich retelling of Brown’s courageous
escape. Ages 10–up. (Apr.) ■list of mental health resources. Thoughtfully
designed and executed, this book carries
an important message for readers of all
ages. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)What If Soldiers Fought with
Pillows? True Stories of
Imagination and Courage
Heather Camlot, illus. by Serge Bloch.
Owlkids, $18.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-77147-362-0
This salute to people who exemplify
peace and reconciliation begins each story
with a question. The titular query
describes the story of medic Desmond
Doss, the first conscientious objector to
win the Congressional Medal of Honor;
“What if words of war became a war of
words?” describes the evolution of PEN
International, the literary and advocacy
organization that fights for persecuted
writers. In her introduction, Camlot
(Clutch) argues that selfless drive of these
subjects is motivated by a powerful,
relentless imagination—“daring us toKickstarter funding, this thoughtfully
compiled guide to body positivity and self-
love provides definitions, affirmations, and
guidance for “girls and those who identify
as a girl.” A note to the reader sets a distinct
tone of openness and acceptance, explaining
that the volume is meant to comfort, guide,
and empower. Soft illustrations in warm
hues by Rossetti give context and power
to the resonant messages of self-acceptance
and individuality, celebrating a multitude
of experiences. On one spread, two women
maneuver their wheelchairs while playing
a sport; another depicts an inclusive group,
including a young hijabi woman embracing
a girl with stretch marks and armpit hair
who is wearing a crop top. The definition
of puberty and explanations of concepts
such as “self-love” are coupled with acces-
sible self-care tips and techniques, from
stretching and crafting to helping others
and reciting affirmations. A concluding
“Now What?” section suggests body-posi-
tivity and self-care practices, followed by a★ Stamped: Racism, Antiracism,
and You: A Remix of the National
Book Award-Winning ‘Stamped
from the Beginning’
Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. Little, Brown, $18.99
(320p) ISBN 978-0-316-45369-1R
eynolds (Look Both Ways) lends his signature flair
to remixing Kendi’s award-winning Stamped from
the Beginning into a powerful “not a history book”
primer on the historical roots and present-day
manifestations of antiblack racism in America. In five
sections, Reynolds’s conversational text discusses the
influential figures, movements, and events that have
propagated racist ideas, beginning in 1415 with the
publication of the infamous work that laid the groundwork for subsequent religious
justifications of enslaving African peoples and continuing through the “war on
drugs” and #BlackLivesMatter. Employing a format that hews closely to Kendi’s
original, Reynolds discusses and differentiates between segregationist (“a hater”),
assimilationist (“a coward”), and antiracist (“someone who truly loves”) rhetoric
via figures such as Angela Davis, W.E.B. DuBois, Thomas Jefferson, and Cotton
Mather. Short chapters, lively phrasing (“You know what hits do—they spread”),
and intentional breaks (“Time Out,” “Let’s all just take a deep breath”) help maintain
a brisk, compelling pace. Told impressively economically, loaded with historical
details that connect clearly to current experiences, and bolstered with suggested
reading and listening selected specifically for young readers, Kendi and Reynolds’s
volume is essential, meaningfully accessible reading. Ages 12–up. (Mar.)