From the Coretta Scott King Award–winning photographer of My People, an illuminating pairing of poetry and portraits depicts the splendor of our global community. I am the world. I am strong. I am the spirit of generations gone. The children of our world come in many colors, shapes, and sizes. Celebrate the vibrancy, the fibers, and the ingredients that define the unique nature of cultural heritages across the globe and the universal truths that unite each and every one of us in this rich, elegant verse paired with striking, diverse images from award-winning poet and photographer, Charles. R. Smith, Jr.

Photographs and rhyming text describe children growing up in America today.

The president of a new country needs a new home, so many hands work together as one. Black hands, white hands, free hands, slave hands. In this powerful story of the building of the White House, Coretta Scott King Award winners Charles R. Smith Jr. and Floyd Cooper capture the emotion and toil that created this incredible structure, the home of our president. The White House was created by many hands, several of them slaves', who will be remembered throughout history for their extraordinary feat. Many slaves were able to purchase their freedom after earning money from learning a trade through this work, which speaks to their unbelievable strength. The title reflects how this towering symbol of America was created by hand, human hands, working toward their freedom, brick by brick.

Illustrations and simple, rhyming text encourage the reader to wiggle, shake, and twirl to the beat.

A collection of twelve poems that celebrate contemporary basketball stars, including Shaquille O'Neal, Allen Iverson, and Kobe Bryant.

A collection of twelve poems that celebrate contemporary women basketball stars, including Yolanda Griffith, Chamique Holdsclaw, and Natalie Williams.

"Kids will grab this for the immediacy in the scenes, the brutal standoffs, the fast talk at the ball court, and the elemental conflicts of coming-of-age." - Booklist Shooting the breeze with his boys. Tightening his D on the court. Doing a color check -- making sure nobody's wearing blue or red, which some Crip or Piru carrying a cut-down golf club would see as disrespect. Then back to Auntie's, hoping she isn't passed out from whiskey at the end of the day. Now that Shawn is headed for high school, he wonders if he'd be better off at the school in Mama's neighborhood, where he'd be free of Compton's hassles. But then he wouldn't be with his fellas -- cracking jokes, covering each other's backs -- or the fine Marisol, who's been making star appearances in his dreams. Dad says he needs to make his own decision, but what does Shawn want, freedom or friendship? With teasing, spot-on dialogue and an eye to the realities of inner-city life, Chameleon takes on the shifting moods of a teenager coming of age.

Art and poetry combine to tell the story of boxer Jack Johnson, who became the first African-American world heavyweight boxing champion in the early part of the twentieth century.

The summer before starting high school in inner-city Los Angeles, fourteen-year-old Shawn grapples with his first experience of love, the complicated bonds of friends and family, and the reality of street gang violence.

A collection of poems that celebrate contemporary NBA basketball stars, including Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Luka Doncic.