Show Up and Vote
by Ani DiFranco; illus. by Rachelle Baker
Preschool, Primary    Rise/Penguin Workshop    48 pp.
8/24    9780593383773    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780593753798    $10.99

On a rainy November day, a young girl goes with her mother to their neighborhood polling place. Along the way, the girl’s mother explains that voting is “a mission / that, by definition / no one can do for us.” The two enter a curtained-off booth where the girl pushes the buttons that correspond to the names her mother chooses on the ballot. The rhyming text, which eschews ­capitalization, is composed in a singsong meter (not surprisingly written by a well-known folk lyricist and composer) that will make for an enjoyable read-aloud. Digitally created illustrations show a Black mother and daughter walking to the polls in a culturally and ethnically diverse city setting. Illustrations emphasize relationships the girl and her mother have within their community and the civic values that voting symbolizes. For them, voting is about caring for and preserving a community; it’s a sense of belonging, and “a job” that everyone’s “got to do” in order to do their part and take care of one another. A thoughtful and rousing conversation starter.

From the "September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.