Young, Gifted and Black Too

This is a fab children’s book! It’s so informative, and yet still fun, allowing children to learn easily about black history and important people!

A historical celebration of 52 Black icons throughout the world starting from the 1500's up to present day.

I love, love that this book is written for children so they can get inspired by reading positive stories of people like them. It's about celebrating who you are and finding representation in books and in history.

Each biography in the book is accompanied by illustrated snapshots of these icons. They way the biographies are written really makes you want to learn more and it encourages you to investigate and discover more about these amazing people.

Magnificent, monumental, a must read! This book is an important, necessary addition to every home and library!

The illustrations are bold, bright and gorgeous. The colours are joyous! And the pictures have a really cool vibe to it that makes me feel like it's for Us without it being a cliche "African" aesthetic (I say this as an African reviewing this book while in South Africa lol). The details in the playful background of each person's portrait is fantastic! I cannot say enough good things about how beautifully and joyously illustrated this book is! It also really matters to me (and this is another way you can tell it's a book for Us by Us) that there's an obvious intentional variation is skin tones throughout the book. Too often, artists will select one tone to represent Black skin and that's the colour they stick with throughout. Here, each person has a different natural tone that feels authentic and natural and realistic.

I love that (in the book's intro) the authors call this book a celebration of icons, and I also love that they encourage readers to go out and explore these remarkable peoples' stories for ourselves outside of the book. I felt so inspired already by the bold text in the intro that reads "How do you plan to write your name on the present and future pages?" followed by a sign-off that reads "You are one of our heroes, too." simply for being our unique irresplaceable selves. I love that, and it instills a confidence in me as to comfortably and enthusiastically gift this book to young readers and parents I know.

This book is one of the most brilliantly and diversely curated collections --including such fascinating, culturally-rich and wide-ranging icons that I would never have dreamed would be showcased together. And it's truly global! South Africa, Senegal, Mozambique, Ghana, Kenya, the UK and the USA are among the many, many places represented. Fashion designers, musicians, independence fighters, peacemakers, scientists, dancers, architects, sportspeople, authors (and sooo many other talented people!) all in one place, united by their brilliance and Blackness! And I'd only heard of about 20 of the 52 people before.

I'd recommend readers should at least be a middle grader, as the descriptions given for each icon assumes an understanding of slavery, world history, and colonial rule (including how an unjust government retaliates to rebellion and shows of independence) that may complicate storytime with backstory discussions otherwise. This line in the book's description explains it well: "the range of figures showcases an even more global selection in line with the movement towards decolonizing our history and curricula." And that's awesome! It absolutely would, as the description says, be "ideal for educators and homeschoolers studying Black excellence, with a new figure to explore every week of the year."

There certainly is lots to unpack and research and discuss after reading each story. It's also just a great reference book to have on hand at home, to learn together as a family, and know that you have access to a wealth of stories worth recognizing and retelling.

What a beautiful book! As a future educator, I was interested in this book because it show my BIPOC students change makers that look just like them. Wonderful illustrations and blurbs on the amazing people.

this should be in schools. interestingly, i just write an essay for my degree about the invisibility of black individuals in history and this book emphasises my point. this book educates you on so many incredible people throughout history who i have, shamefully, not had the pleasure to learn about. this book was fantastic in teaching me about these wonderful figures in history.

when it releases, i will be aiming to buy a copy for my nine year old sister and even a copy for her school library. thank you for making this book and educating everyone on these figures that history has overlooked.

I LOVED this book it was interesting to read about so many amazing people both past and present. I really enjoyed the look of the book and how inviting the pages were. This would is perfect for children to get them engaging with reading and also asking questions about important people of both past and present. Would HIGHLY recommend this book everyone.

Thank you, Quarto Publishing Group- Wide Eyed Editions, for the advance reading copy.

I feel this is a good start to introduce the most amazing personalities to the kids and the rest of the world. Let’s meet the Black life changing heroes and heroines in real life in different walks of life.

The illustrations are amazing and the descriptions quite informative.

I AM QUITE IMPRESSED! Kudos to the Quarto team as always. They are the best!

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about black people all over the world who had an impact in their respective fields, whether it be civil rights, architecture, dance, music, sports or poetry.

Though this is a children’s book, I found myself really interested in learning about all these influential black people. There were many I didn’t know about and I’m now interested in learning more about.

The illustrations in the book were beautiful and amazing as well and will appeal to a child very well. This is a great book to read to children to show them positive stories of people in their community as well as to inspire them, knowing that there is someone who looks like them in a field they are interested in pursuing.