Title: Little Leaders: Bold Women
in Black History
Author: Vashti Harrison
Type: Fiction
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book, History, Feminism, Biography
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Date published: December 5, 2017

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Featuring forty trailblazing black women in American history, Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of breaking boundaries and achieving beyond expectations. Illuminating text paired with irresistible illustrations bring to life both iconic and lesser-known female figures of Black history such as abolitionist Sojourner Truth, pilot Bessie Coleman, chemist Alice Ball, politician Shirley Chisholm, mathematician Katherine Johnson, poet Maya Angelou, and filmmaker Julie Dash. Among these biographies, readers will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things – bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come. Whether they were putting pen to paper, soaring through the air or speaking up for the rights of others, the women profiled in these pages were all taking a stand against a world that didn’t always accept them. The leaders in this book may be little, but they all did something big and amazing, inspiring generations to come.

– My Review –

Considering how few children’s books out there feature POC on the cover, that was the initial thing that drew me to this book. The next thing, was the title and how it very much ties into my goal when it comes to teaching my future children about equality for all, as well as feminism (which I suppose can also be categorized under “equality for all”…although I meant that one more for equality for all races? I’m not sure if there is specific terminology that I should be using, but if you know, please share it with me in the comments!)

I will want to teach my children about compassion and strength, and I believe that all other children should be taught about these things as well. This book, therefore, I believe should be found in every household, kindergarten, school library, and public library. While it not only teaches readers about standing up for what’s right, and introducing them to a number of bold black women (out of which, I was only familiar with 4, before picking up this book), it is also well-written, and very nicely illustrated. I really like the style that was used to depict each woman, and how it stayed the same throughout. And I also found that I really enjoyed the colours, as well as how the text and images were laid out!

This book looked beautiful sitting beneath my Christmas tree, and I think that all of the little humans in the world who celebrate Christmas could benefit from finding such a book beneath their tree, or in their stocking! It is my belief that this book is very important, and that we definitely need more books like this. Little humans, and grown humans alike, could stand to learn something from this book. I will be donating my copy to my local library, in the hopes that little humans can borrow and read it from there this holiday season, and for as long as the library chooses  to keep it on their shelves thereafter.

– Purchase Links –

THANK YOU FOR READING MY REVIEW! HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT DID YOU THINK? AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT YET, DO YOU WANT TO, OR NOT? HOW COME? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!