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#OwnVoices co-writer Michelle Y. Green and illustrator Kim Holt bring vibrant life to the story of Wilbert Tucker who grew up in the segregated South and became a lawyer who loved to read. In 1939, he organized a sit-down-in-the-library protest to fight for the right to read along with the rest of the public. It took many court cases and years of fighting, but Tucker fought with words and conviction until everyone could sit and read in the public library.
Imagine being a young lawyer in 1939, but because of the color of your skin, you can’t even walk into a town library. The Civil Rights movement was decades away, but Wilbert, a Black man, had a plan. He organized a small group of young Black men and set out to get Blacks admittance to a library in Alexandria, Virginia.
This powerful children’s book, with its striking cover and vivid illustrations, evokes strong memories for me. I remember learning about sit-ins in school, the nonviolent form of protesting that challenged racial segregation. As a young child in the 1960s, I attended all Black schools. When I began reading about Wilbert in this book, I was immediately reminded of my own experiences.
I love books that wake me up, and this one certainly does just that. Samuel Wilbert Tucker, unfamiliar to me, was known as the “Unsung Hero of the Civil Rights Movement.” This children’s book teaches about the legacy of this powerful man. As a lawyer, Wilbert peacefully fought the arrests of the young Black men that visited the library in Alexandria. He was determined to show that everyone has a right to sit peacefully and enjoy a public library. Shockingly, the case wasn’t settled until two decades later!
I was honored to be asked to read and review this book, even though it’s brief as an illustrated children’s book. I can’t help but think of my own childhood experiences. I learned to read at the age of four and my favorite place in the world was the library—any library. Scholastic Book Club Flyers, book fairs, and any other avenue of reading brought me immense joy.
At the tender age of 13, two of my siblings and I were integrated for the first time with White students when we attended the Prince K-8 School in Boston. It was a challenging time for us, but especially my mother, as she was determined. She succeeded in getting us bussed to the school.
If I can share another experience, it’s this. One particular school year, I would visit the library in Cambridge, Massachusetts once a week. I would borrow as many books as I was allowed and then embark on the long walk home. I was 15 years old at the time, just two short years after attending the Prince School. To discipline myself, I would carry a heavy bag of books on my left side until I had walked one block, then switch to my right side for the next. I would repeat this left-right pattern, block after block. The weight of the books was exhausting, but I was also exhilarated by the prospect of reading so many until the following week. It could take me nearly an hour to walk home, but I was determined to make the most of this opportunity. As a Black child born in 1960, I feel deeply grateful that others such as Samuel Wilbert Tucker paved the way as early as 1939.
These childhood experiences are ones that I hadn’t thought about in years, even decades. Thanks to this book, they have resurfaced in my mind. I want to express my gratitude to Jeff Gottesfeld for giving me this opportunity. Now, in my mid sixties, I am the grandmother of 11 children, with one more on the way. I would hate for any of my grandchildren, or any other young Black children, to be denied the simple privilege of reading a book in any library. To this very day, I still make heavy use of the library. In fact, I virtually borrowed 66 books in 2024, and as of this date, I have borrowed 38 books in 2025.
John van Hengel was the last person in the world one would imagine on a soup line. He had been the golden boy of his small Wisconsin town, from a secure family where he never missed a meal, not even in the depths of the Great Depression. He was president of his high school class, graduated from college, and moved to California to surf and play tennis with movie stars. His people skills led to a high-powered sales position at a big company. Money rolled in. He married a model and had two sons.
Then, his life fell apart. A few years later, he found himself disabled and homeless in Phoenix, Arizona, dependent on a Roman Catholic Church soup kitchen for food.
On that soup line, John changed his life. He refocused his Catholic faith, took a vow of poverty, and resolved to feed as many people as he could. Through an unlikely convergence of circumstances, John learned how much food was thrown away by supermarkets and big companies, and asked his church to help him start a food bank. His priest said, “John, you heard the call. Decide if you want to answer.”
Less than a year later, John opened the St. Mary’s Food Bank, with only volunteer labor. Soon after that, he started Second Harvest, which ultimately became Feeding America, one of the world’s largest charities.
He never took a dime of payment and maintained his vow of poverty until his death.
We all know Charli D’Amelio. Kim Kardashian, and MrBeast. But John van Hengel? Not so much. FOOD FOR HOPE(Creston, May 2, 2023, with illustrations by Michelle Agatha of THE CHRISTMAS MITZVAH fame) brings this most unsung hero to life, in an America where 1 in 8 people face food insecurity, including so many kids, and a world with too much hunger.
If John could do this, what can we do? This book, for people ages 7 and up, can help us, no matter what it is.
I've known I wanted to be a writer since I was in the fifth grade. My mother used to read fairy tales to me, and I was a voracious reader. When I lived in Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, I had a dedicated teacher--Miss Rowell--who read to us daily, from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series. Since then, I've traveled all over the world as a military Brat. My parents instilled in me high standards of excellence.
