All Rise: The Story of Ketanji Brown Jackson

by Carole Boston Weatherford Narrated by Carole Boston Weatherford

Overview

Multi award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford delivers a message of perseverance, dignity, and honor in this audiobook biography of Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Whatever she did, wherever she was, Ketanji Brown Jackson rose to the top.

From the time their daughter was born, Ketanji Brown's parents taught her that if she worked hard and believed in herself, she could do anything. As a child, Ketanji focused on her studies and excelled, eventually graduating from Harvard Law School. 

Years later, in 2016, when she was a federal judge, a seat opened on the United States Supreme Court. In a letter to then-President Barack Obama, Leila Jackson made a case for her mother-Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Although the timing didn't work out then, it did in 2022, when President Joe Biden nominated her. At her confirmation, Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black female Supreme Court justice in the United States.

Lyrical text by renowned author Carole Boston Weatherford makes this an inspirational and timely listen.

Editorial Reviews

MARCH 2023 - AudioFile

In this uplifting biography, author and narrator Carole Weatherford celebrates the accomplishments of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Echoing the insistent rhythms of the Maya Angelou poem "Still I Rise," Weatherford traces Justice Jackson's ascent from her early years in Miami, Florida, where she found academic success but faced racism both personally and professionally, through her activism as a college student and her distinguished judicial career. Weatherford's narration is crisp, spare, and suffused with joy for what Jackson's rise means for her and generations to come who will look up to her. Weatherford includes both a timeline and a heartfelt letter to her own granddaughter about the meaning of this historic moment. N.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

03/06/2023

Exemplifying how “whatever she did, wherever she was, Ketanji Brown Jackson rose to the top,” Boston Weatherford starts each spread of this high-level biography with a nod to Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”—the poem that Brown Jackson (b. 1970) quoted during her confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Play-by-play lines reflect her maturation, reference her heritage (“the dedication and determination of her parents”), and show Brown Jackson navigating limitations and prejudice placed on her by others (“She rose/ above the debate judges who mocked her African name... She rose/ above a guidance counselor’s doubts that she could get into Harvard”). Evans’s unlined digital illustrations visualize, in pastel clouds, the figure’s connections to elders including Shirley Chisholm and Mae Jemison. It’s an inspiring biography focused on rising above challenges. A “Letter to My Granddaughter and All of Our Daughters” and timeline conclude. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

From the Publisher

★ “Warmly illustrated and beautifully told.” –School Library Journal, starred review

"A distinctly purposeful profile." –Kirkus Reviews

"A gripping biography."–Booklist

"It’s an inspiring biography focused on rising above challenges." –Publishers Weekly

School Library Journal

★ 02/01/2023

K-Gr 4—Ever since she was a child, Ketanji Brown Jackson rose to the top. She learned the value of education from her parents, who were the first in their families to go to college, and her grandparents, who only finished grade school. She accomplished everything to which she put her mind, becoming the mayor of her junior high school and president of her senior high school. As a Black girl, she experienced racial prejudice when she was overlooked for a role because she wasn't white and when debate judges mocked her African name. She didn't let anything stop her and rose from Harvard Law School to federal judge to Supreme Court Justice. Deliberately harking back to Maya Angelou's seminal poem "Still I Rise," this title is a fascinating look at Justice Brown's journey to the Supreme Court. The vibrant illustrations accompanied by quotes from Justice Brown work together to bring her story to life. Readers get a glance at how a little girl rose above all the obstacles with grace and intelligence, inspiring others—including the author, who pens a letter to relatives about her own journey of appreciation. Includes a time line. VERDICT A necessary addition to all collections, warmly illustrated and beautifully told.—Myiesha Speight

MARCH 2023 - AudioFile

In this uplifting biography, author and narrator Carole Weatherford celebrates the accomplishments of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Echoing the insistent rhythms of the Maya Angelou poem "Still I Rise," Weatherford traces Justice Jackson's ascent from her early years in Miami, Florida, where she found academic success but faced racism both personally and professionally, through her activism as a college student and her distinguished judicial career. Weatherford's narration is crisp, spare, and suffused with joy for what Jackson's rise means for her and generations to come who will look up to her. Weatherford includes both a timeline and a heartfelt letter to her own granddaughter about the meaning of this historic moment. N.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2022-12-14
A praise song for the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Black woman justice.

Using “She rose” or “Ketanji rose” as refrains, Weatherford retraces in pithy evangelical bursts the general course of her subject’s early life and career—from being elected “mayor” of her junior high school to shrugging off slights to her name and race, levitating past a guidance counselor’s doubts about her getting into Harvard (where she ended up editing the law journal as a graduate student), and, as a federal judge, coming to the attention of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden on her way to the judicial top. Leaving further character analysis and biographical detail to others, the author then just quotes Jackson that she is “standing on the shoulders of my own role models” and closes by positioning her as “a role model for children everywhere.” Evans follows suit in scenes of the buoyantly smiling justice at various ages and with her childhood and adult families by adding portraits of Shirley Chisholm, Maya Angelou, and other Black women who overcame obstacles. A letter from the author to her granddaughter (“and all of our daughters”) closes out the book. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A distinctly purposeful profile. (timeline) (Picture-book biography. 6-8)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176487138
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	02/28/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	520,040
Age Range:	Up to 4 Years

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