A HUG LIKE MICHELLE'S, A VOICE LIKE BEYONCÉ’S

Weatherford celebrates the strengths and achievements of famous African American women.

This companion volume to Hair Like Obama’s, Hands Like Lebron’s (2024) uses the power of poetry to highlight important figures while demonstrating how young people can emulate them. The 17 women highlighted come from various walks of life. The book’s young narrator ventures forth with “nerves as steady as Harriet’s” and “feet as firm as Rosa’s.” Apart from historical figures Tubman and Parks, Weatherford also pays tributes to the likes of former Vice President Kamala Harris and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. While the subjects may come from different worlds, Weatherford draws deft connections between them; former First Lady Michelle Obama and basketball coach Dawn Staley both possess strong leadership skills, for instance. The author lauds her subject’s physical traits (“With skin as bronze as Imam’s / I’m kissed by the sun’s bright light”) as well as their inner qualities, emphasizing that readers, too, can display such resilience and perseverance. Her smooth rhymes enliven this text and bring to life the importance of role models. Filled with vibrant colors, Durr’s digital illustrations make clear the connection between the young protagonist and the accomplished subjects; this little one twirls like ballerina Misty Copeland, quilts like artist Faith Ringgold, and gazes through a telescope as NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson works on equations. Brief biographies are a welcome addition in the backmatter.

Further examples of Black excellence in action—rousing and inspiring.