An exquisite pictorial love letter to Black children around the world.
A photographic celebration of the beauty and versatility of Black children and their hair.
The acclaimed husband-and-wife child photography team transforms what began as the arresting AfroArt series on Instagram into a beautiful, inspiring photography book. As the Bethencourts write, “we didn’t just want to question traditional beauty standards—we wanted to shatter them. We wanted to create images that flew in the face of the established spectrum of acceptable standards of beauty.” The result is a showcase of the “talent, drive, determination, and ingenuity in our [Black] youth across the diaspora.” Some of the children featured hail from across the U.S., London, and Paris. Others are adorned in brilliantly colored fabrics and accessories from the countries where they live or have familial roots, including Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, and Senegal. All of the models are meticulously styled in bold, ornate fashions, with equally bold, creative hairstyles. Their ensembles and accoutrements honor Black people’s majestic ancestral past, rich present, and dauntlessly imagined futures. Whether clad in white cotton Sunday morning dresses with saddle shoes or intricate metal and beaded jewelry, this “next generation of free thinkers and cultural innovators” displays their power. Some images are accompanied by notes on the children’s interests and the adversities they face. There’s the contemplative gaze of 10-year-old, science-and-math–loving Celai, the “youngest professional runway model to walk in an all-adult lineup in New York Fashion Week”; the pure joy of a trio of little girls wearing roller skates; and 9-year-old Darryl, whose family had a hard time finding a school in Nairobi that allows dreadlocks. There are activists and aspiring astronauts; friends Pokuaa and Sarah, who excel at academics and sports but can’t go to school every day because they also work to support their farming families; and a 13-year-old CEO who founded her own clothing line to fight racism and colorism.
An exquisite pictorial love letter to Black children around the world.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20456-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.
One of the best pitchers of his generation—and often the only Black man on his team—shares an extraordinary life in baseball.
A high school star in several sports, Sabathia was being furiously recruited by both colleges and professional teams when the death of his grandmother, whose Social Security checks supported the family, meant that he couldn't go to college even with a full scholarship. He recounts how he learned he had been drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the first round over the PA system at his high school. In 2001, after three seasons in the minor leagues, Sabathia became the youngest player in MLB (age 20). His career took off from there, and in 2008, he signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million, at the time the largest contract ever for a pitcher. With the help of Vanity Fair contributor Smith, Sabathia tells the entertaining story of his 19 seasons on and off the field. The first 14 ran in tandem with a poorly hidden alcohol problem and a propensity for destructive bar brawls. His high school sweetheart, Amber, who became his wife and the mother of his children, did her best to help him manage his repressed fury and grief about the deaths of two beloved cousins and his father, but Sabathia pursued drinking with the same "till the end" mentality as everything else. Finally, a series of disasters led to a month of rehab in 2015. Leading a sober life was necessary, but it did not tame Sabathia's trademark feistiness. He continued to fiercely rile his opponents and foment the fighting spirit in his teammates until debilitating injuries to his knees and pitching arm led to his retirement in 2019. This book represents an excellent launching point for Jay-Z’s new imprint, Roc Lit 101.
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-13375-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roc Lit 101
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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