Review by Booklist Review
Diggs and Evans' latest is a solid picture book for children who have questions about racial issues, protests, and riots. The perspective offered here focuses on both the experiences and viewpoints of various elders in the community, from parents to grandparents. Evoking the writing style of Eve Bunting's Smoky Night and offering a similar storyline and themes, Diggs presents children asking questions about why people are protesting as well as why their emotions run high during protests. The adult characters take the time with the children to explain these difficult concepts, helping them to better understand the world and neighborhood in which they live. Additionally, they help the kids understand that these events are responses to injustices. Evans' illustrations effectively incorporate bright and moody colors to convey both the emotion and danger within the text. This book will be a welcome addition to any Black Lives Matter collection and can be paired with titles that focus on related issues of racial unrest, protest, and marches.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In the previous collaborators' (Chocolate Me!) rhythmic picture book, several Black children each query an elder about instances of protesting ("Why are those people shouting?"), a vigil ("Why are those people crying?"), and marching ("Why are those people marching?") shown in illustrations. The queries highlight a bigger movement, as well as the racism and injustice behind the gatherings: "Our people are marching because we have been stomped on and stepped over for way too long." The q&a format and a resultant refrain of the children responding "OH" keep the pace consistent, building to the question, "Why are those buildings burning?"--"Sometimes buildings must burn./ The buildings burn for us./ The anger burning those/ buildings is us," Diggs writes--and a child's call to prayer for faith, love, and peace. Though the explanation behind the fire feels insufficiently contextualized for the book's stated age range, Evans's surreally colored, fluid illustrations add depth and emotion to this intergenerational narrative with a hopeful ending. Ages 3--6. Agent: Tina Dubois, ICM Partners. (Feb.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2--A conversation about race takes place between a loving Black father and his child, who is full of questions: "'Daddy?' 'Yes, my sweet boy.' 'Why are those people shouting?' 'Our people are shouting because we need to be heard. We need to be heard.'" Next, a small brown girl wants to know why she sees people crying at a makeshift vigil set up on the street. "Our people are crying because they are in pain." A brown woman in a head scarf answers a boy's questions. There are buildings burning as the story crescendos, and one girl decides to pray for the pain, the destruction--for peace for her people. Diggs makes these gutting conversations loving, plainspoken, and accessible to children. They will also be helpful in coaxing little ones into broader discussions with the adults sharing this work. The question-and-answer format, the hallmark of parenting, helps the characters process large thoughts and huge problems, and yet find some paths to solutions. The illustrations make such big topics intimate, and somehow fathomable as well as heartbreaking. VERDICT Not a story as much as a workbook, this title brings even the youngest children into an important, essential conversation, and points a way to understanding and change.--Kimberly Olson Fakih
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Review by Horn Book Review
Racial unrest has a way of unearthing a lot of questions in all of us, particularly in our children. This picture book takes the bold step of beginning to address specific, difficult questions about racism. In lyrical text, children ask family members why a particular act of protest occurs: "Why are those people shouting?" "Our people are shouting because we need to be heard. We need to be heard." The illustrations, done in digital collage and paint, are colorful and engaging while still managing to express a somber, thoughtful mood. This is a good starting point in the process of understanding. (c) Copyright 2023. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
