WOW Review: Volume XVIII, Issue 2 • Page 6 of 11 • Worlds of Words

Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller
Written by Breanna J. McDaniel
Illustrated by April Harrison
Dial Books, 2024, 40pp [unpaged]
ISBN: 978-0593324202

This picturebook biography features the life of Augusta Braxton Baker, the first Black Coordinator of Children’s Services at the New York Public Library. Augusta grew up loving hearing stories shared by her grandmother. Her passion led her to become a librarian in Harlem. As a librarian she noticed a lack of representation of Black people in children’s books. She decided to build a collection that featured Black authors, illustrators, and characters. April Harrison’s vibrant mixed-media illustrations evoke Augusta Baker’s personal journey and her impact on librarianship. The illustrations bring her life work into focus, showing the emotional experience of story time, activism, and cultural pride. The creativeness between word and illustration fosters empathy, making Augusta’s journey memorable and meaningful for young readers.

As a picturebook biography, this text is accessible to young readers while remaining historically accurate. The text balances storytelling with informative content and includes backmatter that adds details about Augusta Baker’s life (Author’s Note, photographs, and timeline). It centers around a lesser known but pivotal person in library and literacy history. The text goes beyond a simple biography by capturing Baker’s impact on others, honoring her activism and professionalism as a librarian and showcasing her emphasis on storytelling. McDaniel’s writing is lyrical and builds on rhythm that reads aloud beautifully. The phrasing and tone align with Baker’s voice as a storyteller, as she “painted worlds with her words.”

Augusta Baker learned the craft of storytelling from her grandmother, and the stories she heard taught her that where there is a will there is a way. While the text profiles her incredible impact on children’s literature and the art of storytelling, the backmatter mentions only briefly the determination that kept Baker pressing toward a goal when segregation and prejudice blocked her path. She was refused admission to the Albany Teacher’s College in upstate New York until Eleanor Roosevelt intervened (Graham, 2024). She became the first Black woman to earn a degree in librarianship from that college. She was hired in 1937 as a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library in Harlem. In 1953 she became the Assistant Coordinator and in 1961 the head Coordinator of Children’s Services for the entire New York Public Library system, overseeing and setting policy for children’s programs. She was the first Black person to hold an administrative position at NYPL.

Harrison’s illustrations elevate the text, celebrating Black beauty, community, and storytelling. Clothing, hairstyles, settings, and expressions resemble the historical and cultural context of the 1940s in Harlem. Her color palette is rich with warm, deep blues, and bright earth tones. She portrays Baker surrounded by children, books, and light. The illustrations mirror the storytelling by Baker, layered and textured, and incorporate lines from favorite stories and quotations from Black historical figures (Baker, 2025).

The book’s themes of representation in literature of marginalized people, librarianship as activism, and empowerment through literacy are timely and enduring, holding true today. Even though the book is rooted in the African American experience, readers from many backgrounds can connect with using books to lift others and preserve cultural identity. In the Author’s Note McDaniel reflects on her own childhood librarian, Michelle Carnes, which shows her attention to historical detail and personal authenticity (Njoku, 2024). Just as Augusta Baker nurtured young James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, she credits Carnes with nurturing her love of books and affirming her identity. McDaniel understands the impact librarians have on young readers, especially those who are underrepresented.

This story not only celebrates a trailblazer in children’s literature but also models the power of representation. When McDaniel began her research, she found many ways that Baker advocated for readers from all types of communities (Jones, 2024). She included specific references to places and people, rooted in verifiable historical facts. Harrison reached out to family members and obtained actual photographs of Augusta Baker from her granddaughter (Horn Book, 2024).

To compare books about underrepresented Black voices that are collected and celebrated, teachers can pair this book with Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library (Carole Boston Weatherford and Eric Velasquez, 2017), a story that highlights Arturo Schomburg, a Black Puerto Rican librarian who devoted his life to preserving and celebrating the achievements of people of African descent. Another good book pair is Just Like Me (Vanessa Brantley-Newton, 2020), a collection of short poems and mixed media portraits of Black girls from many different backgrounds. Finally, Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker (Patricia Hruby Powell & R. Gregory Christie, 2020), is another text that focuses on amplifying minoritized voices through community action.

The author, Breanna J. McDaniel, completed her PhD in education in September 2022. She has published in academic journals and an academic anthology. Her research was longlisted for the Cassava Republic Press Global Black Woman’s Non-Fiction Prize. She is the co-founder of Researchers Exploring Inclusive Youth Literature. McDaniel has four published picturebooks with three more forthcoming. You can learn more about this author at her website.

April Harrison is a two-time Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award Winner for Go Forth and Tell and Me and the Boss (Michelle Edwards, 2022). She also won the 2020 Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe award for her illustrations in What is Given from the Heart (Patricia McKissack, 2019). Her work appears in several universities as well as many private collections. Harrison creates her illustrations with rich mixed media, using color and collage with paper and magazine prints as well as repurposed objects. Her work is firmly rooted in African American artistic traditions. See more of her work at her website.

References
Baker, L. (2025). Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller. Lorgnette: Quarterly Review of Children’s and Young Adults’ Books, 37(2), 19.

Graham, T. (2024, April 24). Augusta Braxton Baker. WomensActivism.NYC. https://www.womensactivism.nyc/stories/10101

Horn Book. (2024, January 17). Five questions for Breanna J. McDaniel and April Harrison. The Horn Book Inc. https://www.hbook.com/story/five-questions-for-breanna-j-mcdaniel-and-april-harrison-2024

Jones, I. (2024, February 1). Black history month 2024: Q&AS with picture book creators honoring influential Black figures. PublishersWeekly.com. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/94231-black-history-month-2024-q-as-with-picture-book-creators-honoring-influential-black-figures.html#photo-mcdaniel

Njoku, E. (2024, March 13). Review of Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, librarian and master storyteller. The Horn Book. https://www.hbook.com/story/review-of-go-forth-and-tell-the-life-of-augusta-baker-librarian-and-master-storyteller-jan24

Serendipity Literary Agency. (2024, February 21). April Harrison – Serendipity. https://www.serendipitylit.com/client/april-harrison/

Gerrica Bailey, Texas Woman’s University

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