Barack Obama:
Son of Promise, Child of Hope
Nikki Grimes
Illustrated by Bryan Collier
Inspirational is the word for this glowing picture-book biography, framed by the fictional story of a small African American boy who asks his loving, single-parent mom to tell him about Barack Obama. With fast free verse (“His family stretched / from Kansas to Kenya; / his mama, white as whipped cream, / his daddy, black as ink”) and big, handsome illustrations, Coretta Scott King Award winners Grimes and Collier tell the story of Obama’s life. Beginning with his childhood in Hawaii, double-page spreads show him interacting with kids from all over the world. Despite the sadness of his parents getting divorced, both inspire him to find hope in education, and he learns to confront racism (“hurt and hate and history”), and is moved to help the poor. Grimes’ stirring words and Collier’s watercolor-and-collage pictures convey the power of diversity to make a “new whole.” On each spread a small box displays the running conversation between the boy and his mother, and his final comment is: “When I grow up, I want to be the president.”
