Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 10/01/2024 *Starred Review* This powerful picture book effectively documents the research that validated the substantial damage to generations of students wrought by segregationist, separate-but-equal education policies. During the 1940s and 1950s, pioneering African American psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted experiments with young children in communities across the American South using Black and white baby dolls. When asked questions like, “Show me the doll that you like best or that you’d like to play with,” most Black children chose a white doll; when asked to “Show me the doll that looks bad,” almost all Black children went with a Black doll. Subsequently, Thurgood Marshall effectively used this evidence of negative psychological impact in his precedent-setting 1952 Brown v. Board of Education anti-segregation Supreme Court arguments. This fictionalized account is told from the dolls’ perspective, resulting in straightforward, accessible narration and compelling observation. The purposefully jarring illustrations (including digital collages of actual Effanbee Twinkie dolls, just like those used in the experiments) feature strange perspectives and portray characters with blunt, twisted features, evoking an appropriate sense of unease and eeriness. Award winners Weatherford and Cooper have created an impactful and compelling book that’s suitable for kids but deserving of a much wider audience. Rich back matter fills in historical and social context. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.