pickJay is an African American child, telling us about his life from early childhood into pre-adolescence. One day his parents & grandparents give him ‘the talk‘ —about the dangerous realities of racism. Afterwards: “The family reassures me that I‘ve done nothing wrong & no, I‘m not to blame.” Their “eyes say that I‘m the beat of their hearts” & “the joy in their smiles.” A powerful, important picture book with warm, poignant illustrations. #kidlit
There are several scenes in this picture book showing black kids joyfully playing or innocently shopping, and white people looking on with disapproval or suspicion. It‘s from the viewpoint of an African American child, who never seems to notice the way he and his friends are being observed. But young readers will take note. I love that subtlety.
Williams makes this topic approachable by introducing a regular kid & his friends. Over time he gets taller & his family grows concerned for him. We see people‘s silent reactions (esp white ppl) to our young hero, which necessitates talks. Small talks lead to the big one. The big talk is wordless. The au & il do an artful job balancing the tension of a kid living his best life & the realities of being Black & male in the US.
pickNot an easy read, I should have bought it so I could take more time reading, it is not a book to be rushed. A lot is covered in 300 pages, almost too much, it felt a bit chaotic at the beginning.
While I dislike when people write in library books, I do feel the energy with this "correction" and I am not mad about it.
bailedI‘m finally going to admit to myself that I‘m bailing on this. You‘ll rarely see me bail because I tend to just “hibernate” books til later. It‘s not to say it‘s not an important book, but the format is not for me. It‘s basically the transcripts from a podcast which goes from one item to another without a sense of continuity. I feel sure it would be better in its original podcast format.
