Ketanji
Justice Jackson's Journey to the U.S. Supreme Court
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From two Coretta Scott King Honor winners comes this uplifting picture book biography about Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is making history as the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.
Ketanji Brown Jackson is no stranger to overcoming obstacles. When a high school guidance counselor told her she should set her sights lower than Harvard, she decided to go to Harvard for college and law school.
When she became a public defender and saw inequalities in the justice system, she used her legal skills to advocate for people who needed help, but couldn’t afford an attorney.
Ketanji’s path to the Supreme Court was unique: She’s the only current Justice to have been a public defender and one of a few who went to public school. Her story is powerful and heartening, and it’s a lesson in overcoming adversity by being true to yourself.
Margaret A. Edwards Award winner, Printz Honor winner, and National Book Award finalist Kekla Magoon and Coretta Scott King honoree Laura Freeman reunite to present a generation of readers with a new inspirational figure.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Concepts of aiming high and owning personal pride permeate this picture book biography of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (b. 1970). Raised by civil rights activists and "born to shine," Jackson was taught early on that "she could be and do anything she wanted, just by being herself." Alongside Freeman's realistic portraiture, Magoon's affectionate prose recounts Jackson's arc from a child hoping to be a lawyer like her father (piling "her coloring books alongside him") to becoming a skilled member of her high school debate team and top of her Harvard class. Loftier goals carry her through a law degree, a prestigious clerkship, and a stint as a public defender, and concerns that her jobs weren't "quite right" are eventually assuaged by the arrival of presidential court nominations, and, eventually, confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice. An aspirational closing notes that Jackson's "star shines as brightly as ever, and now the whole world can see." An author's note and glossary conclude. Ages 4–8.
