Change Sings: A Children's Anthem

by Amanda Gorman, Loren Long (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Poignant, powerful and perhaps the most important message we all want and need right now. Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman’s picture book debut is a musical journey of hope and inspiration that will remind us all that change is good and necessary. As only Loren Long’s paintbrush can do, his illustrations elevate Gorman’s words right off the page and wrap the reader up in their mighty message — everyone, regardless of age, has the power to make a difference and change the world.

A lyrical picture book debut from #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long
 
"I can hear change humming
In its loudest, proudest song.
I don't fear change coming,
And so I sing along."
 
In this stirring, much-anticipated picture book by presidential inaugural poet and activist Amanda Gorman, anything is possible when our voices join together. As a young girl leads a cast of characters on a musical journey, they learn that they have the power to make changes—big or small—in the world, in their communities, and in most importantly, in themselves. 
 
With lyrical text and rhythmic illustrations that build to a dazzling crescendo by #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long, Change Sings is a triumphant call to action for everyone to use their abilities to make a difference.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593203224
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,455
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD470L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Amanda Gorman is the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US history. She is a committed advocate for the environment, racial equality, and gender justice. Amanda’s activism and poetry have been featured on The Today Show, PBS Kids, and CBS This Morning, and in the New York Times, Vogue, Essence, and O, The Oprah Magazine. In 2017, Urban Word named her the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. After graduating cum laude from Harvard University, she now lives in her hometown of Los Angeles. The special edition of her inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was published in March 2021 and debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Her debut picture book, Change Sings, will be published in September 2021. Please visit theamandagorman.com. 




Loren Long is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Otis series which is in development as an animated television series. He's also the illustrator of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama and Love by Matt de la Pena. He recently illustrated a modern edition of the Clement C. Moore classic The Night Before Christmas. He lives near Cincinnati with his wife and rescue hound, Charlie. Visit him online at LorenLong.com or on Twitter @lorenlong.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/19/2021

This rallying cry, the picture book debut of presidential inaugural poet Gorman, opens with a cross-legged Black child strumming a guitar: “I can hear change humming/ In its loudest, proudest song./ I don’t fear change coming,/ And so I sing along,” the confident first-person rhyming narration begins. As the child walks past a vivid mural of Martin Luther King Jr., they encounter a light-skinned Jewish youth carrying a tuba. Outstretching a garbage bag, the first child entreats the second to join in cleaning up a park. The duo then continues through their city modeling serving actions: offering sustenance to a parent and child, delivering groceries to an elderly person, outstretching instruments to other children, and working toward community betterment. Subtle allusion to contemporary events (“Take a knee to make a stand”) enrich the text. Acrylic and colored pencil illustrations by Long (Someone Builds the Dream) have a stunning depth of light and gradient, conveying a variously inclusive community working toward populating a symbolic mural of their own. This uplifting serenade will instill readers of any age with hope for the future and the initiative to improve it. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

★ “In rich language and vivid art, this hopeful celebration of the life-affirming power of change to ripple out into a better future is irresistible. Text and poetry work together to regulate a careful reading of this beautiful work. One to keep, to read, and to reread.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

★ “This uplifting serenade will instill readers of any age with hope for the future and the initiative to improve it.” —Publishers Weekly, (starred review)

“A lovely and loving call to action and kindness.” —Booklist

“So rich are both the art and the verses in uplifting imagery that it’s hard to imagine any young audience remaining unstirred by this call to be the change they want to see.” –School Library Journal

“This inspiring call to action unambiguously suggests that every individual, regardless of age, can contribute to making the world a better place.” –The Horn Book

From the Publisher

10/02/2021

Gr 1–3—A celebrated young poet and perennially bestselling illustrator pair up to invite readers on a musical celebration of change. Building a story on Gorman's declamatory lines—"I can hear change humming/ In its loudest, proudest song./ I don't fear change coming,/ And so I sing along"—in typically polished, romanticized scenes, Long follows a small Black child carrying a big, beautifully decorated guitar as she gathers a thoroughly diverse group of young musicians to clean up a neatly littered playground, build a ramp for a child in a wheelchair, offer a meal to a homeless mom and son, and finally march beneath a huge urban mural. It proclaims, "We are the change." "I don't make a taller fence," the poet writes, "But fight to build a better bridge." Readers will have to look elsewhere for leads to specific ways and means, but Gorman's soaring appeal to "sing along" joins a long chorus of like calls and may kindle a fresh spate of young social activists. VERDICT So rich are both the art and the verses in uplifting imagery that it's hard to imagine any young audience remaining unstirred by this call to be the change they want to see.—John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, NY

School Library Journal

★ 2021-06-29
Great expectations of wordsmith Gorman are not disappointed in this “children’s anthem” to change.

In rhyming verses, a first-person narrator sings along, telling readers, “I can hear change coming / In its loudest, proudest song.” The poem does become a kind of song, as the child, a Black girl with glowing brown skin and textured hair, carries a guitar. As she joins with others, she hands them instruments, and together they change the world in large and small ways—delivering groceries and meals, cleaning up outdoor spaces, and making literal and figurative music with their deeds and their instruments. Long’s illustrations offer an interpretation of the anthem that expands upon the text and becomes its own rhythmic story. A quiet opening and a stunning second spread one could gaze at for days are followed by spreads that alternate between white space and full color, climaxing with a crescendo and then ending on a soft, steady note, when the narrator looks out to readers, offering them an invitation to carry the song on into the world. In rich language and vivid art, this hopeful celebration of the life-affirming power of change to ripple out into a better future is irresistible. Text and poetry work together to regulate a careful reading of this beautiful work. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

One to keep, to read, and to reread. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews