This book was written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson and illustrated by Nikkolas Smith. Ms. Hannah-Jones won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary as the creator of The 1619 Project.
I had not read this book prior to picking it to review.
Ratings: Amazon: rated 4.9 stars out of 5. Goodreads: 4.7 stars out of 5.
Summary: A historical story of the African Americans that were enslaved in America. It starts with how these people lived in Africa, then how they were enslaved, and lastly how they helped shape the United States.
Literary Analysis: This story highlights the complicated reality of African Americans who are robbed of their connection to their ancestors. It also shows how there are other ways to know about their ancestors, like the passage of family recipes.
Reasons I see is why it is banned or challenged: Anything associated with the 1619 Project has been a target of the Anti-Woke Movement. The reason for this is that this story points to white people who stole and kidnapped Africans and enslaved them.
Specifically, it says: “And the white people took them anyway. Kidnapped them. Baptized them in the name of their god. Stamped them with new names. Ours is no immigration story.” Later in the story, it says “White people told the people they were not human. That the people were things to be bought and sold and given as gifts alongside horses and chairs. When the people were beaten, they said the people did not feel pain. When they sold the people’s children, they said the people didn’t love. These were lies they made up so that they could feel okay about slavery.” Every bit of these passages is accurate, so you won’t find any Luke Skywalker reference here. White people in the past have stated these exact words. For example, J. Marion Sims, known as the ‘Father of Gynecology,” experimented on enslaved black women without anesthesia because he believed that black women don’t feel pain. But what I do not find is any blame or reason to guilt the living white people today.
Personal take: I loved this book, especially the beautiful illustrations. This story reads well out loud, my inner theater nerd had so much fun with the lines. There wasn’t anything incorrect about its references to history, and in fact, the African slave experience was much worse than what is depicted in this story. I highly recommend people to read this.
Here are a few references of its banning and challenges:
‘Don’t Say Gay,’ anti-woke laws affect Palm Beach County school books (palmbeachpost.com)
More Than 350 Books Banned in Florida Schools Since Last July | Miami New Times
The Banned Book Reviewer 
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