Mae makes a way The true story of Mae Reeves, hat & history maker

In her new picture book, Rhuday-Perkovich (It Doesn't Take a Genius, 2021) focuses on social issues and the importance of Black-owned businesses. This is the true story of milliner Mae Reeves. Born in Vidalia, Georgia, in the early 1900s, Mae lost her parents at a young age and was forced to grow up quickly and support her younger siblings. Over time, she held a variety of jobs that involved teaching or caring for others, aspects of work Mae found she enjoyed. It was in millinery work that Mae combined her love of art and philanthropy. Many of her beautiful, bespoke pieces are now being held at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The digital artwork in the story includes vibrant hues that make the beautiful hat pieces stand out. Though a bit text-heavy for new or prereaders, this biography is a vital piece of literature that documents an amazing woman who continuously persevered despite racial disparities.

Made in collaboration with the Smithsonian, where the subject's shop has been partially re-created, this picture book offers a comprehensive, sincere history of Philadelphia milliner Mae Reeves (1912--2016), an extraordinary Black woman who "made a way out of no way." Beginning with Reeves's childhood and young adulthood in segregated Georgia, the creators chronicle how she became both a successful entrepreneur--her "Mae of Philadelphia" hats crowned celebrities and countless church ladies--and a force for change, working for the NAACP and turning her shop into a polling place. Pippins's editorial-styled vignettes and portraits, as stylish as their subject, portray the intersection of Reeves's domestic and professional lives in flat, blocky hues, while lengthy text by Rhuday-Perkovich foregrounds the figure's history and legacy, "Black women were often treated as though they were invisible.... Hats were a way for these queens to be SEEN, shining a light on the dignity they always had." Back matter includes interviews with Reeves's daughter and a museum's head of collections. Ages 7--10. (May)

A soaring tribute to a pioneering African American milliner whose shop is preserved in the Smithsonian Institution. In effervescent prose--"She made sassy hats, classy hats, high headpieces, and low caps. She used bows and baubles, created ruffles and bustle"--Rhuday-Perkovich traces both Reeves' family life and her career, from early years as a schoolteacher and student at the integrated Chicago School of Millinery to fame as owner of a Philadelphia shop with a clientele ranging from "church ladies" to celebrities like Marian Anderson and Ella Fitzgerald. Along with dozens of examples of elegant, usually understated hats on the heads of dark- and light-skinned customers, Pippins uses bright, flat colors to portray her dignified, confident-looking subject through the years (she died in 2016, at 104) surrounded by both her children and the ribbons, spools, tools, and fabrics of her creative trade. Interviews with her daughter and a Smithsonian curator, plus photos and a source list that includes leads to video interviews made a few years before her death, "cap" this introduction to a successful Black designer, entrepreneur, and community leader. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A pleaser for younger readers, particularly fans of fashion and fashion design, in search of role models. (Picture-book biography. 7-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.