Show Up and Vote

Speaking in flashback, a narrator recalls how “i learned what it meant/ to show up and vote” in this work that offers a pulsing message of empowerment and collective action. Though a child is reluctant to head out to the polls on a rainy November day, their “mama said listen,/ we’re on a mission/ that, by definition,/ no one can do for us.” At the polling place, a neighbor helps voters sign in, and the presence of friends and acquaintances inspires a key observation: “looks like the whole neighborhood’s/ got the same job to do.” Musician and activist DiFranco takes a conversational approach to voter education, centering feelings of belonging, pride, and excitement, and describing voting as “where it all starts/ where us people/ have a say.” Baker’s stylized, poster-like digital illustrations amplify the narrative’s we’re-in-it-together vibe, visualizing a vintage polling place and its operations (including a curtained booth) as part of community care. The protagonists read as Black; background characters are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 3–6. (Aug.)