I'm a Brilliant Little Black Boy!

by Betty K. Bynum, Joshua B. Drummond

Overview

Launching THE BBOY COLLECTION / THE I'M A BOY COLLECTION, we introduce "I'M A BRILLIANT LITTLE BLACK BOY!  Finally a gloriously designed and joyful, colorful picture book to celebrate our little Black boys with LOVE!

Meet our newest character, Joshua! He is a little boy who has big dreams and ideas as BRILLIANT as the stars!

With all of his good friends, Joshua’s days are filled with adventures where books, a telescope, a red-superhero cape, rhyming hip-hop verse, twinkling fireflies that light up the magical summer skies above a card board fort in the park— and so much more — is just what boyhood innocence and imagination is all about.

Kind, smart, creative and always thinking— Joshua learns that through studying,
good deeds, working hard and aiming to be brilliant . . . we can really shine!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780692555323
Publisher:	DreamTitle Publishing
Publication date:	11/14/2016
Series:	The BBoy Collection / The I'm A Boy Collection , #12
Pages:	34
Sales rank:	1,013,329
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 9 Years

About the Author

Betty K. Bynum is an actress, writer, singer / songwriter and entrepreneur. She wrote I'M A PRETTY LITTLE BLACK GIRL, and has 3 more books ready: I'M A LOVELY LITTLE LATINA (Fall '15); HOORAY! I'M A GIRL IN THE USA! (Spring '16); I'M AN AWESOME ASIAN GIRL (Fall '16) in a planned 12 book series. She created apparel for girls and is currently working on a line of Madame Alexander dolls based on the lead characters in each book title of the series.

Joshua B. Drummond, Author, is an actor, writer and hip-hop music composer. An honors student and National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) lifetime inductee, he has been writing award-winning stories since the 2nd grade! His current works include a Sci-fi/adventure novel, two screenplays and numerous songs. An avid swimmer and beach lover, he currently attends college in Southern California.

Editorial Reviews

2016-11-10
Perpetually underrepresented in picture books, black children star in this tale about a neighborhood populated by kids with unlimited possibilities. In this work by mother-son team Bynum (I'm a Lovely Little Latina!, 2015, etc.) and debut author Drummond, a young black boy named Joshua and his mother discuss the stars and what it means to be brilliant. "You are like a star / that lights everything / in every way," his mother tells him. Her advice, "Be brilliant," guides the boy through his academic, artistic, athletic, and social achievements. Illustrator McGee (Brotherman, 2016, etc.) peppers the background of Joshua's room with details of his accomplishments: a poster reads "Student of the Month," a superhero cape hangs on a coat stand, and objects like a basketball, a pickle jar containing some sort of collection, and a U.S. map on the wall suggest his varied interests. At school, Joshua shows his creativity and smarts by demonstrating pirate speech, leading a class experiment with a volcano, imagining colorful subjects to paint in art class, and freestyling poetry with his friends at lunch. He shows his bravery after school by rescuing a cat and turning a bully into a friend. Wanting to grow his allowance instead of just saving it, he starts a candy and lemonade stand before getting a haircut at the barbershop, playing basketball, building a fort on a community green with his friends, and finally convincing the group of the kindness in releasing caught fireflies. As the upbeat book closes, Joshua dreams of being an astrophysicist and embraces his bright future: "As I grow, and grow, / and grow…I'll study hard / to make it so!" The rhythm in the poetry may not be intuitive to audiences used to formal ABAB stanzas, but by reading the text aloud, particularly the section on Joshua's poetry, the complex beat becomes more obvious ("Hear my life, through spoken word, / my voice lifts like wings of a bird! / When I speak rhymes, then I am heard. / My rhymes fly free like flying birds, / instead, the sky's painted with words!"). McGee's vibrant images are full of detail, and he embraces a diversity of shapes and skin tones among the neighborhood's black children. The positive message of self-confidence and potential makes this work a valuable addition to collections in need of diversifying their shelves with illustrated volumes featuring modern black characters.

Kirkus Reviews