WE SHALL OVERCOME by Bryan Collier.  New York: Orchard Books, 2021.  32p.  ISBN 978-133854037-56 hc. $18.99    Gr. 1-5    E PIC

Collier brings the famous words of a Civil Rights protest song to life with his signature watercolor and collage creations that cover the page from top to bottom, side to side.  He presents a timeline of landmark Civil Rights events in shades of gray behind the present day figures enjoying the freedoms their predecessors fought for.  Readers will recognize the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Rosa Parks sitting down on a bus, and the National Guard protecting students at the newly integrated Little Rock Central High School, all taking place in the 1950's and 1960's. This book is packed with information, emotion, and pure beauty.  Collier has received multiple Coretta Scott King awards for illustration and four Caldecott Honors for MARTIN'S BIG WORDS by Doreen Rapapport (2001), ROSA by Nikki Giovanni (2005), DAVE THE POTTER by Dave Carrick Hill (2010), and TROMBONE SHORTY by Troy Andrews (2015).
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI