Stamped (For Kids)

Starred review from June 4, 2021

Gr 4-8-In this adaptation of Reynolds and Kendi's award-winning Stamped from the Beginning, Cherry-Paul uses a rope analogy to examine unjust racial hierarchy ideas and concepts. Throughout history, this rope has been used by the dominant culture to tie oppressed people to a corrupt ideology. It has also been used as a symbol of the power struggle bet2ween antiracist and racist thought patterns. This young readers edition assesses how the symbols and monuments of flawed heroes affect our country today. Kids who are just learning about the world around them will now have the tools to begin to understand the complicated path the United States took toward the racial inequity we see today. This version of Stamped features a time line and a glossary and, most important, includes kids in the fight to dismantle racism. The concepts of segregationist, assimilationist, and antiracist are simplified and presented in terms that tweens can understand. Cherry-Paul took the emotional development of children into account when crafting the narrative around the difficult nature of antiracist work. She effectively holds space for kids while supplying them with concepts they will need to be a part of an antiracist society. VERDICT A wonderfully accessible version of the already seminal work for teens; ideal for upper elementary and middle school libraries.-Desiree Thomas, Worthington Lib., OH

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 21, 2021
Grades 2-4 Kendi and Reynolds continue to share their vital antiracist message with this young reader's edition of their celebrated collaboration, Stamped (2020). With the help of Cherry-Paul, the conversational tone is skillfully carried over from last year's installment, with the distinction of shorter chapters and well-placed asides to provide additional context. The actions of significant figures, from Lincoln to Obama, are discussed through three lenses--racist, assimilationist, and antiracist--and examined candidly, posing challenges to preconceptions and noting how some of those figures' actions sometimes reversed or evolved in their lifetimes. Throughout the book, readers are asked to pause and un-pause "to breathe and feel" and think deeply about the ideas and history discussed and their effect on everything from the history learned in school to popular culture. Baker's gray-scale illustrations provide an effective visual language for the intended audience and are featured varyingly as spot art and full-page depictions. The last chapter covers the Black Lives Matter movement and the 2020 Election, which, along with fresh bibliography, make this a dynamic title for our time.

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Starred review from May 1, 2021
A remixed remix of a foundational text. Kendi's Stamped From the Beginning (2016) is a crucial accounting of American history, rewritten and condensed for teens by Jason Reynolds as Stamped (2020). Educator Cherry-Paul takes the breadth of the first and the jaunty appeal of the second to spin a middle-grade version that manages to be both true to its forebears and yet all her own. She covers the same historical ground, starting with the origins of anti-Blackness and colonialism in medieval Europe, then taking readers through the founding of the U.S.A. and up to the present, with focuses on pivotal figures and pieces of pop culture. Cherry-Paul does an unparalleled job of presenting this complex information to younger readers, borrowing language from Reynolds' remix (like the definitions of segregationists, assimilationists, and antiracists) and infusing it with her own interpretations, like the brilliant, powerful, haunting metaphor of rope woven throughout. "Rope can be a lifeline," she says, and "rope can be a weapon....Rope can be used to tie, pull, hold, and lift." Readers are encouraged to "Think about the way rope connects things. Now think about what racist ideas have been connected to so far: Skin color. Money. Religion. Land." Baker's stark portraiture paces the text and illustrates key players. Exhilarating, excellent, necessary. (timeline, glossary, further reading.) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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January 1, 2021
Cherry-Paul adapts Reynolds's YA "remix" of Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning for a middle-grade audience. Reynolds's forthright conversational voice comes through; the book's chronological organization is similar to its YA counterpart. Accompanied by black-and-white halftone illustrations, short readable chapters hit on main points, and occasional sidebars provide related information. "Pauses" in the main text clarify concepts and give readers a chance to gather their thoughts about how deep white supremacy runs and what being antiracist means. A seven-page timeline and a glossary are appended, as are lists of suggested picture books, chapter books, and books for older readers.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)