Lonnie Ollivierre – illustratör

In this story based on the author's childhood, a young Black boy confronts his first experience of overt racism. In recounting the events to his grandfather, the young narrator asks: "How can she hate me when she doesn't know me?" Grandpa offers wisdom and encouragement to the child, reminding him that another person's hate does not change the fact that he is loved and that he matters. While offering an unflinching look at the emotional impact of the encounter, Tyler Merritt presents a message of love and acceptance that will resonate with young readers and offer a starting point for conversations about racial equality between parent or caregiver and child.

Stokes tells the story of the NBA’s first Black superstar, Maurice Stokes, who is not as well known as he should be in part because of a career-ending injury.Coauthors and basketball enthusiasts John Coy and Ty Chapman highlight what a standout Stokes was: he was 6’7” and as they write, “nobody had ever seen a guy his size score, defend, rebound, dribble, and pass so well.” In a 1958 game against the Minneapolis Lakers, Stokes, went down hard and hit his head, losing consciousness. At the time, there was no concussion protocol, and Stokes went back into the game. A few days later, he went into a coma and woke up unable to move his body from the neck down. Players did not have any sort of financial support in situations like this, and Stokes’s teammate Jack Twyman worked with other players and Milton Kutsher to put on a benefit game during the summer at Kutsher’s hotel in the Catskills. This game became an annual tradition, and Stokes was eventually able to travel and watch the game. Wilt Chamberlain said of Stokes, “He had something transcending as a person. . . . Everybody loved him.” Back matter includes some great historical photos as well as further information about Stokes, who was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004, and about the NBA’s Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award.This picture book biography provides a fascinating look at basketball history, accompanied by Lonnie Ollivierre''s action-packed illustrations.