WADE HUDSON AND E.B. LEWIS
From author Wade Hudson and illustrator E.B. Lewis, Invincible: Fathers and Mothers of Black America (Calkins Creek, Sept.) is an empowering and expressive picture book that tells the story of Black America.
Hudson is the author of numerous children’s books and the memoir Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South and is the cofounder, with his wife, Cheryl, of the publishing company Just Us Books. He was inspired to write Invincible because he wanted to acknowledge, honor, and celebrate the Black Americans who helped shape the nation, rising above violent oppression and refusing to be left out of the American story.
“This book was given to us by the ancestors,” Hudson says. “Almost everyone knows about the existence of Black America. But very few people know how it began. Why it began. Who the people were who helped to establish it. Black America is as old as the United States of America itself.”
Via Hudson’s stirring prose and Caldecott honor recipient E.B. Lewis’s bold illustrations, readers meet littleknown figures whose talents, strength, and courage helped pave the way for future generations of Black Americans.
Like Hudson, Lewis listened to voices from the past throughout his creative process. As he was making the art, he reflected on the trauma and triumphs of those who came before.
“Normally, I work listening to music, most times, jazz or classical,” Lewis says. “This time my studio was silent. I felt I needed to conjure up the ancestors. And I must say, it worked. By night’s end, I was in tears. Painting through teared eyes was an unusual experience.”
For Lewis and Hudson, telling the story of Black America is essential for collective healing and critical if children are to learn the lessons of history. “Our well-informed children are the key to a bright future,” Lewis says.
“This book was given to us by the ancestors.”
—Wade Hudson
Hudson and Lewis will be in conversation with Carolyn Yoder, editorial director and founding editor of Calkins Creek, the U.S. history imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, on Wednesday, May 24, 1:30–1:50 p.m.