We Sing From the Heart: How The Slants Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court

by Mia Wenjen, Victor Bizar Gómez (Illustrator)

Overview

A compelling account of Simon Tam’s fight for free speech that ended with a landmark Supreme Court decision

Music is a way to transcend cultures and divides. Simon Tam used his band’s name, The Slants®, to make a powerful statement that racist insults could no longer be hurtful to Asian Americans. But then the U.S. Trade and Patent Office tries to stop him. In his eight-year battle to win trademark protection, Simon would go all the way to the Supreme Court in a landmark case to rout out structural racism in our government systems. Mia Wenjen takes us back to Simon’s early days and the formation of the band, to the long battle to claim the name they chose to use. We learn of his motivations and the years-long struggle that leads ultimately to the Supreme Court of the United States. Told using lyrics from the band’s hit song about their trademark fight, this compelling story will keep readers riveted until the dramatic ending. We Sing from the Heart gives background and context to the significance of Simon’s quest, not just for him and his band, but for free speech rights for us all. Newcomer to children’s books, Victor Bizar Gómez, channels the indie music world with dynamic artwork that compliments the storytelling and is sure to draw in readers with his exciting graphic approach.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781636550879
Publisher:	Red Comet Press
Publication date:	10/15/2024
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	927,347
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Lexile:	980L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Mia Wenjen blogs about parenting, children’s books, and education at PragmaticMom.com and is the co-creator of Read Your World, celebrating Multicultural Children’s Book Day, a nonprofit celebrating diversity in children’s books. She is the author of several illustrated nonfiction children’s books, including Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes, Asian Pacific American Heroes, and Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World. Mia Wenjen lives in Boston with her husband and three kids. Follow her at #PragmaticMom on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. Victor Bizar Gómez is a painter, illustrator, and graduate of Pacific Northwest College of Art. He was raised in the desert of Phoenix, AZ, and now lives in the green forests of Portland, OR. He has worked with several clients including Disney, LA Times, Dark Horse, and Portland Monthly. We Sing from the Heart is his debut as a picture book artist. You can find more about Victor at bizarthestar.com and Instagram at @bizar_gomez.

Editorial Reviews

08/16/2024

Gr 2–6—This true story of the rock band The Slants's recent legal fight to trademark their own name presents a fresh and contemporary example of a case being fought all the way up to the Supreme Court, and prevailing against the odds. The Portland rockers, led by frontman Simon Tam, sought to take back a term of offense to Asian people, but were told they could not trademark their name because it was "racist." The book follows Tam's path from a young kid being picked on for his ethnicity, through his love of music, to his ultimate success in proving the power of taking ownership over a stereotype. Along the way, the support from fans fueled Tam and the Slants and led them to ultimately refocus their efforts on a foundation that supports Asian American artists. Wenjen does not shy away from discussing racism and naming and defining several derogatory terms against Asians. Many pages feature contextual definitions, along with interspersed song lyrics from "We Sing from the Heart," the Slants's anthem about the court case. Gómez, in his first book for children, captures the drama of the struggle with flat graphic illustrations, playing with size and perspective to add further emotion to the story. Mono- and duo-chromatic pages in muted retro colors, all full spreads, make the pages feel like album art. VERDICT Books for young readers about contemporary court cases that relate to anti-racism are few and far between. Purchase this book to fill that gap, especially where there is an additional interest in biographies of musicians.—Clara Hendricks

School Library Journal

2024-08-03
The story of Simon Tam, a Chinese American activist who took his fight for the right to trademark his rock band’s name to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Born in 1981, Simon Tam grew up loving music and working in his parents’ restaurant in San Diego. His early experiences with racism informed his worldview, so when he decided to pursue music and didn’t see many people in the industry who looked like him, he named his rock band The Slants in order to “take ownership of hurtful words and give them a new meaning.” When the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected his trademark application on the grounds that the name was racist, Tam decided to fight back. The legal battle went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 2017 ruled in Tam’s favor. Wenjen’s writing is forceful and emotional but doesn’t explain the specific legal arguments, reducing them to generalizations such as “Asians [were] being treated differently by the government” and “the judicial system was racist.” When dialogue is used, it’s sometimes unclear who is speaking. Where Wenjen shines, however, is in communicating the passion with which Tam dedicated himself to fighting for equality and combating racism. Gómez illustrates the narrative with dyanmic, collagelike digital art in a limited palette of muted colors. Each spread also features a quote from the song “We Sing From the Heart” that The Slants wrote about the experience.

Inspiring in spirit, if not in specifics. (about the band, information on other activists who have fought anti-Asian racism, sources, author’s and illustrator’s notes, lyrics to “We Sing From the Heart”)(Informational picture book. 6-12)

Kirkus Reviews