Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes by Traci N. Todd and Shannon Wright

 

Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes

written by Traci N. Todd and illustrated by Shannon Wright

Informational Text

Summary:

        This is a vibrant picture book that details the life of Jackie Ormes, an important figure in the world of journalism who was the first to publish political cartoons with a positive depiction of Black women. Her work had a lasting impact on journalism and the cartoon industry.

Justification:

        An honor recipient of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award and the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor, this book is an easy one to justify adding to a collection. Informational picture books are an important way to reach young kids, and this one will surely capture their attention with the colorful and eclectic art style.

Illustrations:

        Wright did a great job illustrating this book. The art style is very colorful and almost looks like different pieces of scrap paper glued into the book. The result is a series of images that look like they are bouncing off the page. 

Characters:

        Though this book is informational, we still get an idea of who Jackie Ormes was and what kind of person she wanted to be. The book paints (or draws) a picture of a woman who won't take no for an answer and is constantly trying to seek ways to improve society around her. She is a big dreamer and role model for kids of all ages. 

Accuracy:

        Though, admittedly, I didn't know anything about Jackie Ormes before reading this book, I did some quick research, and everything in this book appears to be legitimate and accurate. Though surely there are some details left out, this book gives a sweeping overview of Ormes' life in a bite-sized chunk that is palatable to younger children.

Todd, T. N., & Wright, S. (2023). Holding her own: The exceptional life of Jackie Ormes. Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.