So Many Years: A Juneteenth Story by Anne Wynter & Jerome Pumphrey (Illustrator)

The celebrated author of Ezra Jack Keats Award winner Nell Plants a Tree and a Caldecott Honor artist come together for a poetic picture book introduction to Juneteenth and its origin. Oh, how you would dance! How you would sing! How you would celebrate! With lyrical text from Anne Wynter and radiant artwork from Jerome Pumphrey, this poetic picture book explains the history behind Juneteenth celebrations. So Many Years simultaneously acknowledges the history of slavery in the US as well as the astonishing Black resilience that has led to an enduring legacy of Black joy. "How would you dress/ after so many years/ of mending your clothes with rags?" begins Wynter in this affecting, question-oriented look at Juneteenth’s past and present. As the queries continue ("How would you sing/ after so many years/ of writing your songs in code?" and "How would you eat/ after so many years/ of making your meals from scraps?"), Caldecott Honoree Pumphrey alternates images of enslaved people with sce