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CARLOTTA'S SPECIAL DRESS

Name: CARLOTTA'S SPECIAL DRESS
Author: Carlotta Walls LaNier
ISBN: 9780316572545

HOW A WALK TO SCHOOL CHANGED CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY

by Carlotta Walls LaNier & Lisa Frazier Page ; illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 6, 2026

An intimate, well-crafted glimpse at the Civil Rights Movement.

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LaNier, one of the Little Rock Nine, shares the moving true story of how she helped integrate an all-white Arkansas school.

As the summer of 1957 drew to a close, Carlotta eagerly anticipated attending Central High, a fancy school near her home with well-equipped science labs ideal for preparing Carlotta for a medical career. With a $20 gift from her uncle, Carlotta and her mother found the perfect first-day-of-school outfit: an elegant black dress adorned with bluish-green numbers and letters. Despite Carlotta’s excitement about starting at Central, white parents’ objections to integration prevented the Black students from attending. When a judge ruled in favor of integration, Carlotta wore her new dress to school, praying that it would bring her good luck. Though surrounded by supportive white and Black ministers, the students encountered an angry mob, and the National Guard, called in by the governor, prevented them from entering the building. President Eisenhower intervened, sending soldiers to ensure that Black students could safely attend school. This colorfully illustrated, heartfelt account gives young readers an excellent introduction to the turbulent integration of public schools in the South. Brantley-Newton’s vibrant digital and collage illustrations effectively portray the flair and style of this middle-class Black family as well as the trauma of racism. Rich backmatter explains that Carlotta’s dress is now displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., while also offering readers a deeper dive into this moment.

An intimate, well-crafted glimpse at the Civil Rights Movement. (author’s note, timeline, photographs) (Picture-book memoir. 8-11)

Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026

ISBN: 9780316572545

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY

- BOOK REVIEW
A MIGHTY LONG WAY (ADAPTED FOR YOUNG READERS)
by Carlotta Walls LaNier with Lisa Frazier Page

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HATSHEPSUT, HIS MAJESTY, HERSELF

by Catherine M. Andronik & illustrated by Joseph Daniel Fiedler ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

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Thanks to the strenuous efforts of her successor, Tuthmosis III, to eliminate all evidence of her 15th-century b.c.e. reign, the historical record is particularly spotty for Hatshepsut, the most successful of the few women who became rulers of ancient Egypt. Still, hedging the speculative portions of her narrative with plenty of “perhaps”-es and “probably”-s, Andronik (Prince of Humbugs: A Life of P.T. Barnum, 1994) assembles a credible, coherent reconstruction. Coming to power largely due to attrition in the royal family, Hatshepsut assumed an office that had no female referents. Consequently, to reinforce her position, she dressed as a man, even in a false beard, and often referred to herself as a man—which confused the eminent 19th-century archaeologist Champollion, for one, to no end. Basing his figures on ancient statuary and wall paintings, Fiedler creates illustrations in the formal Egyptian style and grand manner, evoking more sense of time and place than personality, but imbuing his portraits of Hatshepsut with a regal air. Younger students of Ancient Egypt and women’s history alike will find this careful, but not stuffy, study worthwhile, and the closing bibliography of fiction and nonfiction provides some intriguing follow-up reading. (Biography. 8-11)

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-689-82562-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY

- BOOK REVIEW
WILDLY ROMANTIC
by Catherine M. Andronik

- BOOK REVIEW
KINDRED SPIRIT
by Catherine M. Andronik

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ABIGAIL ADAMS

by Alexandra Wallner & illustrated by Alexandra Wallner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2001

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Abigail Adams, wife and mother of American presidents, with a remarkable story of her own, gets a rather dull introduction to her life in Wallner's (Sergio and the Hurricane, 2000, etc.) picture-book biography. Wallner's text plods through Abigail's life, noting important dates and events, particularly the birth of all her children. Abigail supports her husband in his fight for independence at home, where she runs the family farm and manages the finances and her growing family. She also joins Adams in England when he is ambassador there. Later, she becomes the first president's wife to live in the White House. Abigail is shown as a strong woman, disappointed in her efforts to win a place for women and blacks in the new Constitution. Readers learn about Abigail's thoughts and personality as she matures from child to adult, from homemaker to public figure, but unfortunately we do not hear more than a few phrases in Abigail's own voice. Abigail, who is known through her many published letters, was a lively and interesting correspondent and little of that liveliness permeates this effort. The author's folkart-style illustrations depict a homely group of colonialists in pleasantly colorful detail. A timeline and bibliography would have been helpful to young researchers. This intelligent, early feminist and civil-rights advocate deserves better. (Biography. 8-10)