MY PROTEST

A girl argues for teaching Black history in schools in this picture book, the collaboration of three generations of the Bessellieu family.

“My name is Jaliyah, and I am in the first grade,” announces the narrator (and co-author). “During Black History Month my teacher let us read books about important Black people.” Jaliyah names inventions created by Black people, such as the traffic light, gas mask, and folding chair (regrettably, the inventors are not named), and she discusses important Black historical figures including Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks (the book provides black-and-white coloring pages that encourage children to fill in the tones of their skin and clothes). This basic education about Black historical figures is under threat, per the authors: Jaliyah and her collaborators describe efforts to censor books about racism, civil rights, and Black historical figures from school libraries. The simple, uncontroversial examples of notable Black figures included here make this work ideal for opposing such censorship. Arshad’s digital art is unfortunately flat and repetitive, resembling Bitmoji art, with stock cartoon backgrounds; Jaliyah is depicted with light brown skin, the appearance of lipstick, and straight brown hair—other Black characters with darker skin appear, including her mother and grandmother.

An admirable example of grassroots advocacy.