Six-year-old Jax can’t wait to leave Detroit and spend a week with his grandparents in coastal Virginia, where he’s sure he’ll be spoiled with the kinds of special things he enjoys at home: toys, movies, and hamburgers. As he dreams of the adventures he’ll have, his PopPop has other ideas. He fills their days with timeless summer fun – crabbing, shucking corn, and counting fireflies. Illustrated entirely of repurposed textiles, Nothing Special by Desiree Cooper celebrates the enduring connection between the generations who stayed in the South and the millions of emigrants for whom it will always be home. Between 1910 and 1970, more than 6 million African Americans left the Jim Crow South, but they never forgot the culture, the land, and the family they left behind. In the decades since, it has become a summer ritual for many Black families to reverse the journey and return South for a visit to their homeplaces. Introduction by the Miami Mom Collective. Grades PreK-2
Desiree Cooper on Nothing Special: Picture Book
Desiree Cooper on Nothing Special: Picture Book
Cooper, Desiree
Desiree Cooper is a journalist, community activist, widely published essayist, and the author of Know the Mother. Between 1910 and 1970, more than 6 million African Americans left the Jim Crow South, but they never forgot the culture, the land, and the family they left behind, and it has long been a summer ritual for many Black families to return to the South to visit their homeplaces. In the picture book Nothing Special (Wayne State University Press) – illustrated entirely of repurposed textiles by Bec Sloane – 6-year-old Jax can’t wait to leave Detroit and spend a week with his grandparents in coastal Virginia. He knows they will spoil him with the special things he loves: toys, movies, and hamburgers. As he dreams of his adventures, his PopPop has other ideas. He fills their days with timeless summer fun – crabbing, shucking corn, and counting fireflies. The book is a celebration of the enduring connection between the generations who stayed in the South and the millions of emigrants for whom it will always be home.