By Calvin Alexander Ramsey, Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Publication Date: 2025
Joy for Books Review Score: Avg: 93%
Description from Bookshop.org:
After a storm devastates the farm his parents have been renting, Junior moves with his family to Roxboro, North Carolina. The year is 1959, and the nine-year-old boy has to navigate the realities of the segregated South while adjusting to life in town. Instead of farming, his father works at the lumberyard, and his mother takes in laundry from the white people in town. Junior meets new friends who have a TV--and their own books! These new friends offer to take Junior to the library, and he's surprised to discover that in a clearing in the forest, there's a log cabin that houses a library for Black residents. The library in the woods feels magical, giving Junior a sense of possibility and community. The books he checks out also help him uncover a secret he never knew about his father.
Joy for Books reviewer comments:
"This was a lovely story about family and the decisions they make, new friends, and books. It was an engaging, heartfelt story... I've seen these kinds of illustrations before. They are like paintings and they are beautiful, but a bit abstract at times... A very thoughtful, warm, well-written, and engaging story. I really enjoyed it."
"White society is contrasted to Black society in a historically accurate way... Very distinct, quality style... It highlights the importance of community and family impact on literacy. I did feel like the mother saying that the child shouldn’t be concerned that he should read to his father because his father has taught him things disregards the power imbalance... I’d have liked to see that fear acknowledged."
By Calvin Alexander Ramsey, Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Publication Date: 2025
Joy for Books Review Score: Avg: 93%
Description from Bookshop.org:
After a storm devastates the farm his parents have been renting, Junior moves with his family to Roxboro, North Carolina. The year is 1959, and the nine-year-old boy has to navigate the realities of the segregated South while adjusting to life in town. Instead of farming, his father works at the lumberyard, and his mother takes in laundry from the white people in town. Junior meets new friends who have a TV--and their own books! These new friends offer to take Junior to the library, and he's surprised to discover that in a clearing in the forest, there's a log cabin that houses a library for Black residents. The library in the woods feels magical, giving Junior a sense of possibility and community. The books he checks out also help him uncover a secret he never knew about his father.
Joy for Books reviewer comments:
"This was a lovely story about family and the decisions they make, new friends, and books. It was an engaging, heartfelt story... I've seen these kinds of illustrations before. They are like paintings and they are beautiful, but a bit abstract at times... A very thoughtful, warm, well-written, and engaging story. I really enjoyed it."
"White society is contrasted to Black society in a historically accurate way... Very distinct, quality style... It highlights the importance of community and family impact on literacy. I did feel like the mother saying that the child shouldn’t be concerned that he should read to his father because his father has taught him things disregards the power imbalance... I’d have liked to see that fear acknowledged."