STRONGER THAN

After learning about the courage and resilience of his Choctaw and African American forebears, a young Oklahoma boy confronts his fears.

Eight-year-old Dante awakens screaming from a terrifying nightmare of a shadowy figure pursuing him. His mother holds him and shows him photographs of two ancestors, his maternal great-great-grandmother, Taloa Homma, a Choctaw woman “stronger than” the Trail of Tears, and his paternal great-grandmother, Ora Lee Scott, a Black woman “stronger than” the Tulsa Race Massacre. When Dante asks about those events, his mother encourages him to seek the answers himself; at the public library the next day, he immerses himself in history. The violence, cruelty, and destruction that his people faced sadden him, but he discovers another feeling—pride in the people who were “stronger than a nightmare” and confidence that he must be, too. Grimes and Well’s (Choctaw) quiet text feels a bit didactic at times, but it’s wholly edifying, and Dante’s journey hits poignant emotional notes. Lewis’ (Lenni Lenape) signature watercolor art uses vibrant color for present-day scenes and sepia tones to distinguish the historical figures and moments; he welcomes young people into Dante’s world yet offers them a level of remove from the events he reads about so that readers can decide when and how to learn more.

Enlightening and empowering.