Skip to content
Responsive image
Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories

I AM EVERY GOOD THING

Gordon C. James Derrick Barnes

An upbeat, empowering, and important picture book from the team behind the Newbery Honor-, Caldecott Honor-, and Coretta Scott King Honor- winning Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut!
I am
a nonstop ball of energy.
Powerful and full of light.
I am a go-getter. A difference maker. A leader.

The confident Black narrator of this book is proud of everything that makes him who he is. He's got big plans, and no doubt he'll see them through--as he's creative, adventurous, smart, funny, and a good friend. Sometimes he falls, but he always gets back up. And other times he's afraid, because he's so often misunderstood and called what he is not. So slow down and really look and listen, when somebody tells you--and shows you--who they are. There are superheroes in our midst!


Derrick Barnes wrote the New York Times bestseller The King of Kindergarten, as well as the critically acclaimed picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut (illustrated by Gordon James), which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. He also wrote the bestselling chapter book series Ruby and the Booker Boys. He owns the copy-writing company Say Word Creative Communications and created the popular blog Raising the Mighty, where he "chronicles the experience of bringing up four beautiful Black boys in America." He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and their four sons.

Gordon C. James illustrated the critically acclaimed picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut (by Derrick Barnes), which received a Caldecott Honor, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, an Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor, the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers, and a Society of Illustrators Gold Medal. He also illustrated Let 'Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People's Champion (by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson). He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.
Available products
Book

Published 2020-09-01 by Nancy Paulsen Books

Comments

The Yarn's Travis Jonker interviewed with Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James. Read more...

Once Upon a Farm launched a new feature on IGTV called Storytellers in partnership with The Conscious Kid. I AM EVERY GOOD THING was featured along with an interview between Derrick Barnes and Once Upon a Farm co-founder Jennifer Garner. Read more...

Drew Barrymore has interviewed Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James about being fathers and creating books to raise young Black boys. This was a part of her Monday parenting series on IGTV and has gone out to her 13.3 million followers. Read more...

Page after page of empowering text speaks to energetic children everywhere, as the author-illustrator team behind Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut return with another top-notch celebration of Black boys. The catchy text exudes confidence... Background characters are of various races, but the stars of every page are Black, and they explore, soar, soak up information, and make a difference.

I AM EVERY GOOD THING is a #1 New Release on Amazon in the Childtren's Boys & Men Books category!

This first-person self-affirmation celebrates the multiple wonders of young Black boys... Barnes' playful, potent style draws on inviting metaphor to lift this well above the usual supportive picture book celebration, and the zippy turns of phrase prompt affectionate and personal reading aloud.

Barnes and James reunite, after the multi-award-winning success of Crown, for this beautiful and necessary book that affirms Black boys and their right to thrive. James's vibrant oil-paint illustrations harmoniously depict Black boys in motion, in contemplation, and in full vitality as they skateboard, swim, or stand contemplatively in the outdoors.

Through every stroke readers will see that Black boys are "worthy / to be loved." The title says it all: Black boys are "every good thing."

UK/ANZ: Egmont UK

The text has a cadence that demands to be read out loud, performed, sung, or shouted with joy and veracity. James' illustrations provide vibrant visualizations of the words, rich in color and movement. Boys' brown faces radiate light, love, and the joyfulness of childhood so that readers can't help but smile along as they read.

The Children's Book Podcast's Colby Sharp interviewed with Derrick about I AM EVERY GOOD THING. Read more...

I AM EVERY GOOD THING is a Kirkus Best Children's Books of 2020 Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2020 School Library Journal Best Books of 2020 TIME's Best YA and Children's Books Booklist Editors' Choice: Youth Books, 2020 Horn Book Fanfare 2020 BCCB Blue Ribbon 2020 NPR's Book Concierge 2020 New York Public Library Best Books of 2020 Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best

I AM EVERY GOOD THING was featured in Oprah's Book Club's list of Anti-Racist Books for Children. The list was curated by Jacqueline Woodson who introduced the list with these powerful words: "The Black experience is everyone's experience. We can step inside and embrace the parts of it that intersect with our own narratives. We can read books that shine a truth and enlighten. Or we can pretend it doesn't exist and try to eradicate it. It's up to us to decide whose narrative we will not only choose to see, but choose to believe." Read more...

Employing rich textures and jewel tones in his fine art style, James paints Black boys of varying skin tones and ages engaging in work and play, solo and in community... Together, James's energetic portraiture and Barnes's affirming text powerfully and ecstatically convey the idea that all Black boys are 'worthy/ to be loved.'

EW.com (12.5 million unique visitors/ month) has interviewed Derrick on I AM EVERY GOOD THING, and called the book "an empowering ode to confident, smart, funny, adventurous (and everything else) Black boys." Read more...