I Am Every Good Thing (Melinda Butler

BARNES’ I AM EVERY GOOD THING: A BOOK FOR EVERY READER By: Melinda Butler

Like many White educators, I have miles to go as I work on my goal of becoming an antiracist, abolitionist educator. I’ve read many excellent books, participated in book discussions, listened to podcasts, rewritten syllabi and lessons as I work toward this lifelong goal. Yet, with all these wonderful resources, never have I read anything as inspiring as I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James. I follow educators and authors on Twitter and love reading the recommendations of new children’s and Young Adult books. That is how I first discovered I Am Every Good Thing. This book is exceptional, honest, and powerful, and It is filled with simple, brilliant text and illustrations. On September 11, 2020, New York Times Books tweeted that the text was “a celebration of Black boyhood by Derrick Barnes and illustrated by Gordon C. James, is new this week on our children’s picture book best-seller list,” and on December 15, 2020, John Schu (mrschureads) tweeted, “Because it’s joy in print.” Barnes dedicates this work of art to Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, EJ Bradford, Jordan Edwards, Michael Brown, Jordan Davis, and Julian Mallory. The words leap off the page in joy, sadness, hope, and celebration. As a college professor who teaches inservice and preservice teachers, I model book blessings and read-alouds during face-to-face and synchronous classes, and I select diverse texts written by Own Voices authors. As I read this book for the first time, I was overwhelmed at the beauty and pathos of the narrator’s words and knew that this text deserved to be read aloud to as many people as possible. I have shared this book in many classes, and, in Fall of 2021, I read this book to my Peer Committee at my Reappointment Review, as a way to represent what I am working on as an antiracist educator. Barnes’ and James’ text is the most celebratory, sobering, and hopeful children’s book that I have ever read and belongs in every classroom, school, and home library.