[Nonfiction Wednesday] Rising Above and Beyond: The Story of Ketanji Brown Jackson

Myra here.

We are delighted to dedicate our Wednesdays to featuring nonfiction titles, as per usual.

This year, we hope to feature books that fit any of the following criteria:

Postcolonial literature and/or [pre/post] revolutionary stories
Stories by indigenous / first-nation peoples / people of colour
Narratives of survival and healing, exile and migration, displacement and dispossession
Books written or illustrated by people who have been colonized, oppressed, marginalized
Translated or international literature

All Rise: The Story Of Ketanji Brown Jackson (Amazon)

Written by Carole Boston Weatherford Illustrated by Ashley Evans
Published by Crown Books for Young Readers (2023) ISBN: 9780593650165 (ISBN10: 0593650166) Borrowed via Overdrive. Book photos taken by me.

On the same day that the first Black female federal judge, Constance Baker Motley, was appointed in the US, Ketanji Onyika was born, her African name signifying the “Lovely One.”

This pattern is made evident as one continues reading: how Ketanji’s eventual triumphs and accomplishments were made possible by those who came before to pave the way and chart a path where none existed previously. The book creators were also unflinching in their portrayal of the many microaggressions and outright prejudice that Ketanji experienced from some of her teachers and school counselor who did not consider her good enough for Harvard University and handed her a brochure for a state college instead.

The narrative theme of ‘rising’ despite seemingly insurmountable odds was consistently woven by the book creators as the readers get to know Ketanji and witness her growth from a wide-eyed child to eventually being appointed to the US Supreme Court.

I also appreciated how her family has figured prominently as her ‘backbone,’ enabling her to rise above and beyond societal expectations. The repetition of ‘Ketanji rose’ and ‘she rose’ is an uplifting refrain throughout the story. Definitely a worthy addition to any school library’s picturebook biography collection.