JACKIE WINS THEM ALL

A young Black girl used to taking home first prizes must adjust to someone else getting the gold in this picture book.

“The amazingly talented Jackie J. Spade, a star in the making in just the sixth grade,” has a big race coming up, but she’s not worried. Already a prizewinner in karate and ice skating, dark-skinned, Afro puff–wearing Jackie also “swings a mean bat” and wins spelling bees, science fairs, and chess matches. Readers get little information about Jackie outside of Ferguson’s brisk, rhyming verse about her long streak of achievements, but her smile is bright. Debut illustrator Aryutova’s well-composed digital images in warm tones and textures show happy, adorable Jackie excitedly accepting awards. How will all this victory inform Jackie’s reaction to the inevitable loss? When a Black girl wins first place in the 200-meter dash and Jackie gets second, it’s a horrible shock. A crying Jackie collapses in an effective two-page spread that offers opportunities for conversations between adult readers and children about her feelings. But then Jackie “dusts herself off and wipes tears from her face / she walks right on over and says ‘good race!’ ” The value of sports for all competitors—not to mention Jackie’s hard work—could have been emphasized in the story a little more. Still, the cheerful championing of good sportsmanship among peers and the depiction of mutual recognition and encouragement between young Black girls make this a satisfying tale.

A worthwhile fable for sporty, ambitious young readers.