Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell and R. Gregory Christie - ESSENTIAL

Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. NON-FICTION PICTURE BOOK. McElderry (Simon and Schuster), 2020. $18. 9781534406230 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

Ella Baker listened carefully all her life and she kept asking – What do you want to accomplish? Her personal motto was “Lift as you climb”. As a black woman, she had little voice – even in the black organizations she supported and lifted. But regardless of this, she kept listening, asking, climbing and lifting to raise the lives of all blacks and all humanity. I loved this look at someone I’ve never heard of. Someone I should have heard of. Great addition to a diverse collection of civil rights and social justice books. A treatise on leading a movement and on how to be a human. Christie’s illustrations are bright and styled perfectly to emphasize Baker’s energy and work. There are a few pages that I wished the words were black instead of white, as they are hard to read. 

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS