Hard Work, But It's Worth It

The Life of Jimmy Carter

Balzer + Bray

(HarperCollins)
(pub. 1.28.2020) 
40 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Bethany Hegedus
       and illustrator:  Kyung Eun Han

 
C haracter: Jimmy Carter

O verview: 
     "Even before Jimmy Carter became president, he knew the value of hard work. Living on his family's peanut farm, Jimmy saw how hard work yielded strong results. At least it did for some people. But growing up in the segregated South, Jimmy also saw firsthand how white people and black people were not treated equally. None of it was right. None of it was fair.

     So Jimmy created a list of Good Mental Habits to help him navigate life's challenges. The list guided his thoughts and actions and helped him fight for change, whether working with civil rights leaders to end racial discrimination in his home state of Georgia, helping to negotiate peace in the Middle East,or building homes for the poor through Habitat for Humanity. 

     From the statehouse to the White House and beyond, Jimmy has worked to make change for all people, devoting decades to public service and becoming one of the most respected humanitarians of our time. It's hard work, but it's worth it." 

T antalizing taste: 
     "During the Great Depression, times were tough. But farm life had always been tough. There was work from sunup to sunset, no matter the time of year. From the very start, James Earl Carter Jr. - Jimmy - and hard work were fast friends."

And something more:  Betheny Hegedus explains her inspiration for writing this book in her Author's Note: "Now in his nineties [95 on October 1, 2019], Carter continues to heed the words he wrote in the eighth grade, in a list of Good Mental Habits he took down in a  notebook: to "give up worry and anger; hatred and envy" and to "neither fear nor be ashamed of anything that is honest and purposeful."
     Jimmy Carter is a hero of mine. I hope he is now one of yours, too."

Rise!

From Caged Bird to Poet
of the People,

Maya Angelou

Lee & Low Books
(pub. 8.13.2019) 
48 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Bethany Hegedus
and illustrator: Tonya Engel

 
C haracter: Maya Angelou

O verview: 
     "Maya Angelou's life was defined by transformation and perseverance. From her early days as a passionate reader in Arkansas, through her work as a freedom fighter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, to her triumphant rise as a post of the people, Maya Angelou did more than survive. She thrived, and along the way she became an inspiration to millions. 
     In honor of the 50th anniversary of Angelou's classic I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and with a foreword by her grandson Colin Johnson, Rise! celebrates the luminous life, spirit, and legacy of a truly phenomenal woman."

T antalizing taste: 
"The sights, sounds, and smells of San Francisco 
   delight Maya.
She floats through the fog,
   a cocoon of creativity that blankets the city.
Maya's love of language now moves within her,
   rhythm, rhyme,
   meter as music.
Before long, Maya earns a scholarship
   to the California Labor School.
There she dons black tights
   and learns to occupy space
   with her long limbs.
Maya the dancer,
   the performer,
        is born."

And something more: The Foreword by Colin Johnson, Maya Angelou's grandson, states that as my grandmother "moved past the pains of her own childhood and managed that pain, she came to believe: 'My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.'" And Bethany Hegedus, the author of Rise! and owner of The Writing Barn in Austin, Texas, is someone who also shares a powerful message: "What I learned after surviving 9/11 and during the 12 years it took for Grandfather Gandhi [her first children's biography] to be published was to keep being creative, believe in your vision, be resilient, and believe in the power of story to heal."