Bound To Stay Bound

Other - 09/29/2025 Bolling builds a third-person narrative around a Sojourner Truth quote in this forthright picture book biography of children’s and civil rights leader Marian Wright Edelman (b. 1939). When the then-four-year-old subject drinks from a fountain labeled "White Only" and is pulled away by a teacher, she "didn’t like being told that she couldn’t do something." After learning about Sojourner Truth’s response to her talk being compared to the bite of a flea ("Lord willing, I’ll keep you scratching"), Wright Edelman seeks to end segregation-era inequities. She finds more and more ways "to make people scratch" as a college-age protestor and Mississippi’s first Black woman lawyer. And Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., she founds the Children’s Defense Fund to ensure that, through education, "all children had a future." Grooms’s airbrush-style digital illustrations show Wright Edelman across the decades as this thought-provoking title asks, "What will you do to make someone scratch?" Back matter includes more about the subject and an author’s note. Background characters are depicted with various skin tones. Ages 6-9. (Sept.) - Copyright 2025

Booklist - 08/01/2025 As a young girl, Marian Wright Edelman was inspired by Sojourner Truth, who once told a critic that she would continue to pester like a flea until slavery was eliminated. Just like that proverbial flea, Edelman found ways to poke at injustice wherever she saw it, whether it was changing the signs on segregated drinking fountains or refusing to leave her seat in a restaurant that only served white people. Bolling’s well-researched text finds ways to make this civil rights leader’s life relevant to modern youth, such as Edelman’s creation of the Children’s Defense Fund and her support of education as an important tool for fighting inequality. Grooms’ digitally created illustrations support the text with vivid examples from Edelman’s many contributions. Pictures of Edelman’s “Freedom schools” show students surrounded by groundbreaking children’s literature by Black authors, such as Pat Cummings and John Steptoe. Back matter includes an author’s note that provides additional details about the influential Edelman, as well as a wealth of bibliographic resources. An inspiring biography about a lesser-known but inspirational leader whose influence is still felt today. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.