Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller

K-Gr 4–This is a blissful walk around the imagination for anyone who has ever been told, or has listened to, a transporting piece of storytelling. Baker had a grandmother who told tales from across the ages and of all genres, but what they had in common, other than Baker’s alert, listening ears, were characters that looked defeated but who in the end were victorious. A young librarian in Harlem, Baker was still at home in the world of books, but what she found in the way of authentic Black representation was missing; she created a collection including the works of writers and illustrators who would give Harlem’s children the books in which they would see themselves conquering the world. This is a wall-to-wall poetry-filled biography, with scenes of Baker hugging the buildings and cityscapes of her surroundings, towering over the classrooms, and demonstrating her immoveable presence in all of Harrison’s quilt-colored, patched-together, joyfully two-dimensional illustrations. Of course the book is catnip for librarians and storytellers, but for children, too; the colors, books, titles, typeface, faces, people, streets, and words that overflow these pages work in tandem with the text to celebrate a life in stories and a life in service to others.