Seven Million Steps: The True Story of Dick Gregory’s Run for the Hungry

Authors Barnes and Gregory begin this stirring account from the life of activist and comedian Dick Gregory (1932–2017) with a question: “No matter where you come from or what family you belong to.... what would you do if you knew someone who goes to bed every night without having supper?” In Morrison’s dynamic oil paintings, a child puts their head down on a table, a figure in silhouette gazes into an empty refrigerator, and an adult and two children are shown alongside bare pantry shelves. To raise awareness about global food insecurity, Gregory proposes “what seems like a wild idea”: running from Los Angeles to New York City while abstaining from nearly all nourishment. Leaving in April 1976, Gregory travels 50 miles a day on foot, at every stop touting the cause and at times joined by runners and even celebrities. Urgent second-person lines that invest readers in the protagonist’s effort prove as elegant as the visuals of Gregory moving fluidly across a range of landscapes. It’s a compassionate, powerfully told portrait that asks of readers, “Will you simply stand still... or will you run until you can’t run anymore?” Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Contextualizing back matter and authors’ notes conclude. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)