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Summary
Summary
Discover the inspiring story of the first black woman elected to Congress and to run for president in this picture book biography from a Newbery Honor-winning author and a Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning illustrator.
Meet Shirley, a little girl who asks way too many questions! After spending her early years on her grandparents' farm in Barbados, she returns home to Brooklyn and immediately makes herself known. Shirley kicks butt in school; she breaks her mother's curfew; she plays jazz piano instead of classical. And as a young adult, she fights against the injustice she sees around her, against women and black people. Soon she is running for state assembly...and winning in a landslide. Three years later, she is on the campaign trail again, as the first black woman to run for Congress. Her slogan? "Fighting Shirley Chisholm--Unbought and Unbossed!" Does she win? You bet she does.
Author Notes
Alicia D. Williams's debut, the middle-grade novel Genesis Begins Again , received a Newbery Honor and was a Kirkus Prize nominee and a Morris Award finalist. It also won the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe New Talent Author Award. Alicia is a graduate of the MFA program at Hamline University. An oral storyteller in the African American tradition, she also teaches kindergarten. Learn more at aliciadwilliams.com.
April Harrison, a renowned folk artist, is the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning illustrator of Patricia C. McKissack's final picture book, What Is Given from the Heart, which received four starred reviews and which the New York Times Book Review called an "exquisite story of generosity." Most recently, she illustrated Nana Akua Goes to School by Patricia Elam Walker. Her work appears in the public collections of Vanderbilt University, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, the Atlanta Housing Authority, and the Erskine University Museum and in many private collections.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3--Young Shirley St. Hill, born in Brooklyn, NY, but spending her formative years in Barbados, exhibited her curiosity and boldness from an early age. She was an outstanding student, graduated college, taught school, and became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Emphasis is placed on her determination, drive, and persistence. When she was held back in school, she acquired a tutor to catch up and skip a grade. In college, she joined political action groups and questioned why so little was being done in poor neighborhoods. Williams provides an engaging account of Chisolm's life in an accessible manner and Harrison's attractive acrylic illustrations enhance a fine text. There are many books on Chisholm's life for the targeted demographic but this one is a cut above the rest. VERDICT Librarians may feel they have enough books on Chisholm's life but this volume should be considered as more than an additional purchase.--Margaret Nunes, formerly at Gwinnett County P.L., GA
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this informative, accessible picture book biography, Newbery Honoree Williams profiles Shirley Chisholm (1924--2005), presenting her Brooklyn beginnings; her six years growing up in Barbados; and her subsequent education and fight to join the New York State Assembly and then Congress. Employing an italicized refrain of others' judgments throughout Chisholm's life ("That young lady is rebellious!"), Williams relays the various challenges and achievements Chisholm faced at each stage: "Politicians keep making promises. Yet nothing changes./ So Shirley steps her white oxford heels back into politics." Acrylic and mixed media collage art by Harrison has a multilayered, folk art sensibility, featuring textures, angles, and expressive figures of differing skin tones. A solid primer on a Black political visionary. Back matter includes an author's note. Ages 4--8. (June)
Horn Book Review
Williams (Genesis Begins Again, rev. 1/19; Jump at the Sun, rev. 3/21) and Harrison (What Is Given from the Heart, rev. 1/19; Nana Akua Goes to School, rev. 5/20) present a lively and appealing picture-book biography of our first Black Congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005). The story focuses on her childhood propensity to ask questions, which evolved into a successful political career anchored by advocacy for the rights of poor and underrepresented people. The daughter of West Indian immigrant parents, Chisholm spent her youth in Brooklyn with her parents and in Barbados with her grandmother and cousins. Her schooling was important to her father, who inquired daily about what she had learned and told her to "study and make something of yourself." After college, where she joined a political science society, she worked in early childhood education. In her community, she attended meetings and asked questions related to the welfare of citizens, pushing for money for better schools, regular sanitation service, and better police protection. Dissatisfied with politicians' unkept promises, she formed a Democratic women's club that worked to address community issues and organize voter registration drives. After winning a seat in the New York Assembly, she introduced bills to help college students and domestic workers and to fund daycare centers. Three years later, Chisholm was elected to Congress, where she served for fifteen years. Harrison's expressive and engaging folk art-style illustrations, rendered in acrylic and mixed-media collage, are a worthy complement to Williams's admiring tone and spirited narrative, which makes the subject both relatable and inspiring for readers. An author's note offers additional information about Chisholm's life, including her 1972 presidential run. Pair with Chambers's Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb! and Russell-Brown and Velasquez's She Was the First! (rev. 11/20). Pauletta Brown Bracy September/October 2021 p.127(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Shirley St. Hill was all the things a proper little girl was not: spirited, opinionated, and determined to get her way. This picture-book biography of Shirley Chisholm opens with her early life in Brooklyn, New York, right before her immigrant parents send her and her younger sisters to live with their grandmother in Barbados. After six years the family is reunited in New York, where, nightly, Shirley listens to her father and his friends discuss politics, especially matters regarding Black people and women in America. Shirley becomes active in her community and frequently speaks up for others. She marries Conrad Chisholm and keeps up her activism. When a seat opens up in the New York State Assembly, Shirley runs for it and wins. She faces backlash for being a woman in politics, but Shirley remains undaunted. Three years later, Shirley makes history as the first Black woman elected to Congress. Williams imbues her account of Shirley Chisholm's life with the voice of an oral storyteller, punctuating it with emphatic declarative statements that act as a refrain. It makes for an inspiring and rousing read-aloud that will give children an excellent sense of Chisholm's determined character; such traditional elements of a biography as birth and death dates can be found in the author's note. Harrison's folk-art--inspired illustrations are as forthright as both the text and their subject. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A timely and inspiring biography of a great woman who broke barriers and used her voice to elevate those around her. (Picture book/biography. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
This vibrant picture book tells of Shirley Chisholm, the daughter of West Indian immigrants and the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. As young children, she and her sisters were sent to live with their grandmother in Barbados. They returned to Brooklyn six years later, during the Great Depression. Shirley's father reminded her daily, "Study and make something of yourself." She took it to heart, graduating from college and working in education, while taking an active role in community affairs. After serving in the New York State Assembly, she ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and won. The main text concludes there. Her later candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination is one of many biographical facts in the appended author's note. Besides telling of Chisholm's life from childhood through her election to Congress, the story conveys a sense of her as a hardworking, "bold, brassy" woman who spoke up for the disadvantaged. Created with acrylics and mixed-media collage, Harrison's striking illustrations are notable for her use of line, color, and pattern. A handsome picture-book biography.
