The story of Juneteenth

PreS-Gr 2--On June 19th, 1865, the last enslaved people in Texas learned they were free. Juneteenth celebrations commemorate the day with parades, music, dancing, and food. This nonfiction board book provides a simply worded, age-appropriate explanation of the holiday's origin for toddlers. Williamson follows the trend of introducing high-interest, informational topics in the board book format, comparable to the Who Was? biography board book series. Jenai's vibrant cartoon-style illustrations work in unison with the text to support and deliver additional information about Juneteenth not provided by the text alone. While the board book format may not appeal to beginning readers, the arrangement of just one to two lines of text per page, large and clear font, simple sentence structure, and distinct text and illustration separation forces a comparison of this title to more advanced nonfiction about Juneteenth, such as Maximilian Smith's The History of Juneteenth and R.J. Bailey's Juneteenth. VERDICT A versatile and welcomed addition to the limited but growing collection of children's books available about Juneteenth.--Emily Brush

A look at the origins and significance of Juneteenth. In a classroom scene, young Black children led by a Black teacher make red, black, and green popsicle-stick flags as the text introduces Juneteenth as "a special day of freedom." In a street parade, people in Afrocentric attire carry red, black, and green flags as the first-person plural narrator describes Juneteenth as a day to remember "when the last enslaved Africans in the United States became free." Subsequent spreads pithily cover the history of slavery, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation declaring enslaved people free as of Jan. 1, 1863, and the joy of the newly freed Africans. Readers learn that it took two more years for the news to reach the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, delivered to them by an Army contingent on June 19, the day that now marks the anniversary of Juneteenth. Assuming no prior knowledge on readers' parts, this informative board book strings together facts about Juneteenth for readers unfamiliar with the holiday and its origins. The history is oversimplified and the prose is uninspired but well designed for independent reading. Bright, cartoonlike illustrations featuring Black and White characters with expressive faces support comprehension. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A functional introduction to an important American holiday. (Nonfiction board book. 4-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.