BECAUSE OF YOU, JOHN LEWIS

A picture-book biography in verse highlighting the friendship between John Lewis and the young African American boy whom he inspired.

In her signature expressive and soulful style, Pinkney introduces readers to young Tybre Faw, a boy from Tennessee who learns about Sen. Lewis from reading books. Inspired by Lewis' lifelong fight for justice and equal rights, Tybre convinces his grandparents to make a 4-hour drive from their home in Tennessee to Selma, Alabama, where every year Lewis conducts an annual pilgrimage across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of his historic showdown, which helped usher in the Voting Rights Act. There, the two meet and a friendship is sparked. Woven into the narrative is the story of how Lewis, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., went on to become a civil rights hero. With deep emotion, Pinkney captures the generational struggle for freedom and takes readers from Dr. King’s radio speeches during the Jim Crow era to the Black Lives Matter movement of today. Brown's watercolor-and–quill pen illustrations are striking and larger than life, adding great depth and meaning to the verse. Backmatter includes a statement further describing the relationship between Lewis and Tybre, a timeline of Lewis' life, captioned photographs, and the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley, which Tybre delivered at Lewis’ funeral service. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

This eloquent tribute is a must-read.