Member-only story
Reading Time: 8 minutes
I’m not so great at timing my Stack Overflow columns with anniversaries, partly because my review stacks are a weird mix of not-yet-published and published-a-while-ago. So this set of books comes at the tail end of Black History Month — but it’s not like there’s any reason not to read the books on this list year-round, and you may find other books that fit this topic showing up in my columns throughout the year, though not necessarily grouped the same way.
This week’s column is named after the first book on the list, which isn’t yet available, but it kicks off Versify, Kwame Alexander’s new imprint at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Alexander, who won the 2015 Newbery for The Crossover (among other awards), will be curating books for Versify that “electrify, edify, and exemplify,” with the desire to celebrate all children’s lives.
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
This picture book is a poetic love letter to Black America, celebrating both the well-known and the unknowns. The book includes athletes and musicians, as well as unnamed…
