Soul Step
by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams; illus. by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu
Primary    Little, Brown    48 pp.
6/24    9780316562713    $18.99

“STOMP, CLAP, / FLIP, FLAP, / GO HARD, / SNAP BACK!” A rhythmic refrain immerses readers in step, an age-old African American tradition that includes stomping, clapping, singing, chanting, cheering, and careful choreography. A brown-skinned African American girl, who wears a big Afro puff, lives with her mom in a neighborhood where “not many people look like us.” When police officers profile Mama or a white woman tries to touch her hair, Mama goes home, dons her dancing boots, and “gets to what she calls ‘steppin’.’” When the daughter asks why stepping makes her feel better, Mama sends her to three different strong Black women: a sorority sister, an auntie, and a Black Lives Matter community organizer. The girl learns that step originated in slavery, when people used the only instruments they had (their bodies), and that it flourished when Black sororities and fraternities on college campuses made it integral to their traditions. Uchendu’s digitally created illustrations convey a sense of perpetual motion; the joyful color palette abounds in yellow, orange, red, purple, and, of course, pink, a prominent color worn by women of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the sorority highlighted in the book. Celebrating Black history and sisterhood, this story brings awareness to an art form rarely performed outside of African American communities. Like step, this tale should be enjoyed and shared.

From the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.