Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America
By Regan McMahon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Captivating storytelling makes these heroes relatable.
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What's the Story?
HAND IN HAND profiles 10 significant men in African-American history, giving detailed accounts of their childhoods, the forces that shaped them, and the eras in which they lived -- from the time of slavery to the presidency of Barack Obama. Full-color portraits and spot illustrations by Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King award-wining artist Brian Pinkney give vivid and inspiring impressions of historical figures such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois, as well as more recent heroes Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and President Barack Obama.
Is It Any Good?
Hand in Hand is a compelling work of history and biography and a monument to the struggle for civil rights and African American achievement. Yet Andrea David Pinkney keeps young readers engaged and entertained by telling revealing anecdotes and choosing down-to-earth metaphors that make these figures seem like ordinary people who did extraordinary things. For example, she writes that when opposing team members called Jackie Robinson " a degrading name ... he smacked the pitcher's ball with his baseball bat harder than hard -- knocked the jelly out of that doughnut ..."
It's good that her storytelling is so captivating, because the book is text-heavy, with many consecutive two-page spreads with nothing but type on them (though the type is fairly large) before the eye is relieved to find a piece of Brian Pinkney's amazing watercolor-and-ink art. Hand to Hand is a wonderful resource for home or classroom, great for read-aloud, family discussion, or school research projects.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
How many of the 10 men profiled did you already know about? In what ways are these stories more lively than history in school textbooks?
Can you think of 10 black women who changed America? What do you think qualifies someone as a person who changed history?
Which of the men in the book thought of doing great things when they were a kid?
Book Details
- Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney
- Illustrator: Brian Pinkney
- Genre: History
- Topics: Activism, Great Boy Role Models, History
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
- Publication date: October 23, 2012
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 9 - 14
- Number of pages: 256
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, Kindle
- Award: Coretta Scott King Medal and Honors
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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