WOW Review: Volume XVII, Issue 1 • Page 9 of 12 • Worlds of Words

The Undefeated
Written by Kwame Alexander
Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Versify, 2019, 40 pp (unpaged)
ISBN: 9781328780966

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, is the perfect framework for unveiling known and unknown events and people in African American history. The stark white backdrop for the realistic portraits that permeate this beautiful picturebook create a vast, expansive feeling that reveals the profound magnitude of the emotions laid bare by the poetry. Kwame Alexander wrote this poem in 2008 as a tribute to his newborn daughter, Samayah, and Barack Obama, the first African American president of the United States. This award-winning book shares the victories of great athletes like Jesse Owens, Serena Williams, LeBron James, and Wilma Rudolph, as well as Reece Whitley, a competitive swimmer, and Sheryl Swoopes, an inductee to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. It showcases artists like trumpet player Louis Armstrong and jazz singer Billie Holiday, along with artists like Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, and Thelonious Monk. Every person featured in this book has a short biography included at the end.

As wonderful as these tributes are, the bare revelations of horror revealed in the modern realism-style paintings of those who died are even more powerful. The four young girls killed in the Baptist Church bombing, Sandra Bland who died in a jail cell, Tamir Rice, a twelve-year-old who was shot by police while holding a toy gun, and Martin Luther King Jr., among others, are depicted by the artist Kadir Nelson.

Written in prose, the use of the preposition “un” adds a poetic element and a repeated emphasis that those profiled made an indelible mark on history through their perseverance or sacrifice: “for the unforgettable…the ones who survived, and the ones who didn’t,…the undeniable, the unflappable…the unafraid…the righteous…the unspeakable…the unlimited…unstoppable ones…the dreamers and doers…the unbelievable, the unbending…the underdogs and uncertain…the unspoken…undefeated…for you and you and you. This is for us.” As Kwame states in his afterword, this poem reminds everyone to “never, ever give up.”

Written and illustrated by two award-winning African American creators known for their authentic voices and meticulous research, The Undefeated has won multiple awards, including the Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Carter G. Woodson Award, and a Newbery Honor. It also appeared on multiple lists, including the Notable Books for a Global Society.

Although not a quick read-aloud, books that pair well with The Undefeated include other surveys of historical events and contributions of African American people, in particular, Kadir Nelson’s Heart and Soul: The Story of American and African Americans (2011) and We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball (2008) that offer beautiful portraits and full-page biographies for in-depth research. Another book pair considers the contributions to history by First Nations and Indigenous people. In Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes, Wab Kinew and Joe Morse (2018) profile Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada who contributed to many fields such as history, space exploration, literature, sports, medicine, and politics, and is written and illustrated in a style similar to The Undefeated as it poetically stirs the heart in a visually impacting and inspiring picturebook.

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, Emmy Award-winning producer, and New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 books. He is the director of the Literary Arts program at the Chautauqua Institution in New York and serves as their inaugural writer-in-residence. He hosts the podcast Why Fathers Cry about love, parenting, and loss, and has taken his passion for literacy and the craft of writing to Ghana where he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic. More information can be found on his website.

Kadir Nelson has his paintings exhibited in many prestigious museums and institutions, including the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and the U.S. House of Representatives. He has also worked with several film studios and created artwork for Amistad, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. He was commissioned for the cover of Michael Jackson’s posthumous album and has illustrated over 30 books, receiving numerous awards for his illustrations including the Caldecott Medal, Coretta Scott King Award, and the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award. More information can be found on his website.

Joy Brown, Texas Woman’s University

Authors retain copyright over the vignettes published in this journal and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under the following Creative Commons License: