Mighty Justice (Young Readers’ Edition): The Untold Story of Civil Rights Trailblazer Dovey Johnson Roundtree

Gr 7-10–Until her death at 104 in 2018, Roundtree—“a Black woman born in the early twentieth century in the Jim Crow South”—shared a remarkable 24-year friendship with McCabe, a self-described “white woman who came of age in 1950s Washington, DC.” Theirs was a “critical partnership” that produced Roundtree’s 2009 memoir, Mighty Justice: My Life in Civil Rights. Bahni Turpin, who voiced that original audiobook, returns, her dexterous register perfectly adjusted for younger ears. Turpin especially excels in embodying the women crucial to enabling Roundtree’s heroism, including her beloved grandmother, her Spelman College mentors, and Mary McLeod Bethune. McCabe notes, “I am sorry that Dovey did not live to see this [middle-grade] book, because she believed so deeply in our obligation to young people.” Multifaceted, multi-genre awarded Asim’s worthy adaptation is an encouraging gift to youth.