{"id":46587,"date":"2026-07-01T22:15:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46587"},"modified":"2026-07-01T22:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:15:51","slug":"review-of-we-the-people-is-all-the-people-written-by-howard-w-reeves-illustrated-by-duncan-tonatiuh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46587","title":{"rendered":"Review of We the People Is All the People, written by Howard W. Reeves, illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We the People Is All the People<\/em><\/p>\n

written by Howard W. Reeves
\nillustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh<\/p>\n

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2026. 36 pages.
\nReview written June 4, 2026, from a library book.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

The concept of this picture book is simple and beautiful. The first page after the title page lists the Preamble to the United States Constitution, of course beginning with “We the People.” The rest of the book shows the wonderful multi-faceted diversity of the people of the United States.<\/p>\n

Here’s how it begins:<\/p>\n

“We the people” is all<\/em> the people.<\/p>\n

People
\nnext door,
\ndown the street,
\nand across the country,
\nin cities,
\ntowns,
\nand farms.<\/p>\n

People
\nliving in houses,
\napartments,
\nand in shelters,<\/p>\n

who worship in churches,
\nmosques,
\nand temples.<\/p>\n

People
\nwho were here,
\nwho arrived later,
\nwho still come today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so it continues. Of course the pictures add great resonance – showing us a wide variety of people who fit each description.<\/p>\n

A later section includes:<\/p>\n

People
\nwho look different ways,
\nlove different ways,
\nand communicate different ways.<\/p>\n

People
\non assembly lines,
\nbread lines,
\nand protest lines.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the last couple spreads:<\/p>\n

Her. Him. Them.
\nYou. Me. Us.<\/p>\n

“We the people” is ALL<\/strong> the people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s an author’s note at the back where he does acknowledge that the Constitution was originally written not for all the people, but for landowning white men. But I like his conclusion:<\/p>\n

Some injustices have been corrected, such as emancipating the enslaved and giving women the vote, while others we are still working on.<\/p>\n

Although things are better today, and there are more people included in “we the people” than when the preamble was written, for every step forward there is often a step backward, and there are still so many people left out. We still have much more work to do to include all<\/em> the “we” in “we the people” as we strive to create a more perfect union.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This simple and beautiful picture book helps me believe that we can raise up the next generation to help make it so. Reading this book is a perfect way to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n

DuncanTonatiuh.com<\/a>
\nabramsbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Picture_Books\/we_the_people_is_all_the_people.html<\/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

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

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We the People Is All the People written by Howard W. Reeves illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2026. 36 pages. Review written June 4, 2026, from a library book. Starred Review The concept of this picture book is simple and beautiful. The first page after the title page lists the Preamble […]<\/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-46587","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\/46587","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=46587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46641,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46587\/revisions\/46641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}