{"id":38388,"date":"2024-04-22T21:03:43","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T01:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38388"},"modified":"2024-04-22T21:03:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T01:03:43","slug":"review-of-i-am-every-good-thing-by-derrick-barnes-illustrated-by-gordon-c-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38388","title":{"rendered":"Review of I Am Every Good Thing, by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I Am Every Good Thing<\/em><\/p>\n

by Derrick Barnes
\nillustrated by Gordon C. James<\/p>\n

Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin Random House), 2020. 32 pages.
\nReview written September 15, 2020, from a library book
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

I Am Every Good Thing<\/em> is by the same people who created the picture book Crown<\/em> that won multiple awards, and like that, this book vibrantly and joyfully celebrates black boyhood.<\/p>\n

I tend to dismiss picture books about self-esteem, unless they tell a good story. This one does not. It\u2019s purely inspirational. But it does a wonderful job of being inspirational.<\/p>\n

The colorful paintings show black boys doing many different things. The accompanying text is the voice of the kids pictured telling how wonderful they are:<\/p>\n

I am
\na nonstop ball of energy.
\nPowerful and full of light.
\nI am a go-getter. A difference maker.
\nA leader.<\/p>\n

I am every good thing that makes the world go round.
\nYou know \u2013 like gravity, or the glow of moonbeams
\nover a field of brand-new snow.<\/p>\n

I am good to the core, like the center
\nof a cinnamon roll.<\/p>\n

Yeah, that good.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The paintings are wonderful and varied. There\u2019s a kid wincing after scraping his knee skateboarding and getting up again. There are kids swimming, playing music, looking through a microscope, and much more.<\/p>\n

The book ends with an adorable boy smiling broadly at the reader. The words say:<\/p>\n

And without a shadow
\nof a doubt,
\nI am worthy
\nto be loved.<\/p>\n

I am worthy
\nto be loved.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that was the moment when tears came to my eyes. Because it shouldn\u2019t need to be said. But yes, it needs to be said. That black boy pictured there \u2013 and every black boy \u2013 is worthy of love, as is every child on earth. But this book helps me see the beauty, the lovability the inherent worthiness in one set of beautiful children.<\/p>\n

And in seeing the particular, it spreads love to the universal.<\/p>\n

derrickdbarnes.com<\/a>
\ngordoncjames.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a book from Fairfax County Public Library<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I\u2019m posting the oldest reviews I\u2019ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They\u2019re still good books!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes illustrated by Gordon C. James Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin Random House), 2020. 32 pages. Review written September 15, 2020, from a library book Starred Review I Am Every Good Thing is by the same people who created the picture book Crown that won multiple awards, and like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,15,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemporary","category-picture-book-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38388"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43650,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38388\/revisions\/43650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}