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“If She Can Do It, I Can, Too!” is a children’s book about Black women, created by Black women, but for everyone!
Author De’Shawna Yamini served as a coordinator for a Black men student success initiative at the college level for over five years. While completing coursework in African American Studies alongside her students, she received an assignment to complete a children’s book about any subject in Black history. She wrote: “If She Can Do It, I Can, Too!”
Encouraged to publish the book by friends and family, it is now a reality! The women featured paved the way so the path would be smoother for generations to come!
Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
If She Can Do It, I Can, Too!, written by De'shawna Yamini and illustrated by Ayzha Middlebrooks, is a children's educational and inspirational picture book that highlights the accomplishments of black women in history that have shaped an entire nation. The book dives straight in and follows a consistent formula for each woman featured. The introduction gives the reader the name of the historical figure, a brief look at her backstory, and what gave her the personal drive to persevere even when it was unusual, or even illegal, for her to do so. We are then taught how she accomplished the feat and given a very encouraging, “I can, too!” The feature closes with an illustration of the person and a slightly more in-depth overview of who she was and what she did.
As a woman, I am always on the lookout for children's books that grab women's history and make it accessible to the youngest of readers. As a mother to children of color, it is even more important to me to find books that depict heroes children can actually see themselves in. Author De'shawna Yamini takes these incredibly important principles and elevates them into a message that applauds strong female drive. Bessie Coleman went to France to get her pilot's license because the United States would not allow a woman who was black and Native American to do so. Katherine Johnson was a black mathematician whose genius in astrophysics got white men to the moon [go figure]. Breathing life into these women and their history is the artistic talent of illustrator Ayzha Middlebrooks, who does so in a bold primary palette as strong as the women themselves. I would give If She Can Do It, I Can, Too! a whole bucket full of stars if I could.
