Fierce 44, The: Black Americans Who Shook Up the World, written by the Staff of The Undefeated (Website), reviewed by Anneliese White

Summary: With a striking blue cover, and vivid illustrations inside to match, “The Fierce 44” is a well done compilation of influential African American biographies for young readers. It features concise one page biographies on each name, some more well known such as Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, and Maya Angelou, and others less familiar like Mary McLeod Bethune, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Henrietta Lacks. Each profile features a fantastic illustration by Robert Ball with the title and name, as well as reason why they are featured in the book, like Jesse Owens: “Because he was the athlete who humiliated Hitler,” and Simone Biles: “Because the most dominant gymnast ever is still inventing new moves.” The biographies are not sugar coated, citing positive and negative aspects of each individual’s life when it applies, so there are references to drug use, AIDS, and sexual abuse. This is a great pick put together by the staff of a website owned by ESPN called “The Undefeated,” for readers looking for an anthology of African American biographies that are broad and quick, but also unique in content.

Straight Talk for Librarians: Overall, this is a great purchase for upper elementary/middle school aged students to get a quick overview of 44 important African Americans. The biographies are concise and have a conversational tone which young readers will appreciate. This is not a title intended to be used for serious research, but does a great job giving a swift general overview of facts of lives to pique readers’ interest. Some mature content about a few persons might prompt younger readers to need an adult to discuss with, but this is something I would recommend for purchase, even though there are a plethora of African American biography collections out there, for the main reason that writing is done in an interesting and hip way, and the collection holds profiles of unknown individuals that many other books don’t feature. Good for upper elementary, better for middle school, add this title to your non-fiction section.