The Day You BeginThere will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael Lpez's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders

There's only one thing Arrah hasn't tried

With her dreams at risk of falling through the cracks of her checklist

the dead shall speak-and the living yield even more surprises

but I know you

and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of tman behind the many storied roles

oppression

When Parker Curry came face-to-face with Amy Sherald's transcendent portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery

and character education

interactive way

cruelty and resilience that is the story--and the song--of America itself

classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend

as well as the consequences of motherless-ness