Recognize!: An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life
edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson
Intermediate, Middle School    Crown    208 pp.    g
10/21    978-0-593-38159-5    $16.99
Library ed.  978-0-593-38160-1    $19.99
e-book ed.  978-0-593-38161-8    $9.99

The Hudsons’ latest anthology (We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, rev. 11/18; The Talk, rev. 9/20) boasts more than thirty contributions from historical and contemporary authors and artists. Short stories, essays, poetry, and art pay homage to the current movement for Black lives. Young people will encounter familiar contemporary authors but will also be introduced to leaders such as Frederick Douglass, through his electrifying 1852 speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”; and Mary McLeod Bethune, from her moving “Last Will and Testament.” Poetry is prominently featured: Lesa Cline-Ransome’s “At Our Kitchen Table” celebrates the bonds of family while addressing the challenges of being Black during a time of global pandemic and racial unrest; abolitionist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s “A Slave Mother” highlights a not-so-distant past when freedom was only a whispered prayer. Stunning works of art by acclaimed Black illustrators are featured, including Keith Knight, James Ransome, Ekua Holmes, and the late Floyd Cooper. Appended with artist and author notes; brief biographies of the historical figures; contributor notes; and more information about the Black Lives Matter movement.

From the January/February 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.