A moving look at a Black family’s journey to exercise their right to vote and imagine a better future.Charlie and Ralph’s mom has waited a long time to vote because countless obstacles have been put in Black people’s way to stop them from having a say in elections—obstacles that it took a lot of hard work to tear down. But now, in 1969, Madear is going to vote for the very first time, and the boys are coming along on this exciting day. A day that puts a new bounce in their mom’s step, and enables them all to begin to dream of a better future.
Wade Hudson and Don Tate give young readers a warm family story as well as a powerful glimpse into the struggle that had to be waged to achieve a fundamental right of citizenship.
On sale: July 9, 2024
Age: 3-7 years
Grade: Preschool - 2
Page count: 32 Pages
ISBN: 9780593615744
Reading level: Lexile: AD620L | Fountas/Pinnell: O
Wade Hudson is the author of more than thirty-five books for young readers, including the middle grade memoir
Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South, winner of the 2022 Malka Penn award, and the anthologies
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices;
The Talk, a
New York Times Best Book of the Year; and
Recognize: Black Lives Matter (all co-edited with his wife, Cheryl Willis Hudson). He is the president and co-founder of Just Us Books, Inc. Wade speaks around the country about issues of inclusion and diversity and has received numerous honors for his contributions to children’s literature, including the Children’s Book Council’s Diversity Achievement Award and a 2022 Eric Carle Honor. He lives in East Orange, New Jersey. You can visit Wade at JustUsBooks.com or follow him on Instagram @WadeHudsonJr and on Twitter @HudsonWade.
Don Tate is the award-winning creator of numerous picture book biographies, including
Jerry Changed the Game! How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever;
Pigskins to Paintbrushes: The Story of Football-Playing Artist Ernie Barnes;
William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad; and
Swish!: The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters, among others. Don’s accolades include an Ezra Jack Keats Book Award and Honor, Carter G. Woodson Book Awards, Christopher Awards, and SCBWI Crystal and Golden Kite Awards. In addition to writing and illustrating, Don enjoys speaking at elementary schools. He lives with his family in Austin, Texas, and invites you to visit him online at dontate.com.
* “Hudson and Tate combine their formidable talents to bring to young readers the historical context of the hard-won rights of Black people to vote. Tate’s sepia-toned illustrations identify scenes of voting in 1969 as “longer-ago” history as the young male narrator recalls his mother’s first time voting in the South after a lifetime of Jim Crow deprivations in Louisiana. The palette becomes enlivened by brighter primary colors as history moves through the 2008 election and into the present day; these beautifully convey Madear’s feelings of joy and collective empowerment. Hudson, known for his prolific and dedicated lifetime of work ensuring that Black children can see themselves in books and that history is preserved and told in the most engaging ways possible for young readers, adds an author’s note summarizing the larger historical context of the narration. Keeping pace is Tate, who movingly shares in an illustrator’s note that details his familial connections to the story, making this picture book a useful one for older elementary students as well as those in middle school and high school working with picture books. This timely and timeless selection is a perfect fit for every school library.” —
School Library Journal,
starred review“The atmosphere is joyous. . . . The illustrations, created with ‘digital watercolor and mixed media,’ clearly express the characters’ shifting emotions. . . . The straightforward firstperson narrative is engaging, and at the story’s end, the family’s joy is heartfelt and memorable.” —
Booklist“Madear’s children aren’t fully aware of how special today is, but their mother—sporting one of her best dresses—joyously explains that this Tuesday in 1969 will be the first day she gets to vote. . . . This straightforward yet empowering tale will get youngsters energized for election day.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Personal and political history intertwines in a warmly affirming tale of two Black siblings witnessing a milestone event—their mother voting for the first time in 1969 Louisiana. . . . Concise narration outlines the U.S.’s history of Black voter suppression before following the family to the polling station, which ‘felt just like being at church, with people greeting us enthusiastically.’ Voting still requires courage, but exiting the curtained booth to friends’ ‘Amen!’s, Madear discusses how good the action feels. She also speculates on a world in which Black people will be elected to political office, an idea shown as actualized when Madear votes in the 2008 Presidential election. In brown-outlined digital watercolor and mixed-media images by Tate, Madear’s hands-on-hips stance embodies power and pride in an intergenerational book about a woman who ‘walked into a voting booth . . . and allowed us to imagine a different future.’”
—Publishers Weekly
