That You Are Here Is No Small Thing by Traci N. Todd is a powerful and beautifully illustrated picture book celebrating Black history, resilience, ancestry, and hope.
This book has been added to my September 2026 – New Release Spotlight Amazon List. I will add newly-released titles to this list throughout September.
Author: Traci N. Todd
Illustrator: Vashti Harrison
Genre: picture book; bedtime story
Setting: bedtime in a shared children's bedroom
Themes: ancestors, hope, slavery, social awareness, comfort, outer space, identity, connection with the past, Black history, resilience, cultural heritage, African mythology, African folklore
Protagonist: three Black children
Recommended for: PreS-Grade 4
Starred reviews: Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and SLJ
Publication date: September 1, 2026
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
That You Are Here Is No Small Thing follows three Black children at bedtime. In a dream-like sequence, the children trace their ancestors’ stories, struggles, and dreams.
Rather than presenting Black history as a series of dates and events, Todd connects the past directly to children living today. African mythology and storytelling traditions appear alongside family memories, cultural traditions, slavery, resistance, creativity, and community.
BLACK HISTORY THROUGH A CHILD’S EYES
Todd does not avoid the painful realities of Black history, including chattel slavery and oppression. Instead, her lyrical text places those experiences within a much larger story of survival, cultural memory, creativity, and perseverance.
The focus remains on connection: these three children are here because generations before them survived, cared for one another, created beauty, and imagined a future beyond their own lifetimes.
AN AWARD-WINNING CREATIVE TEAM
Author Traci N. Todd is an acclaimed picture book author whose previous books have collected numerous awards and honors. Nina: A Story of Nina Simone won the won the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award, while Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes earned a Robert F. Sibert Honor. Both picture book biographies also received Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honors.
Illustrator Vashti Harrison won the 2024 Caldecott Medal for Big, becoming the first Black woman to win the award. Her soft, dreamlike illustrations here are rich with symbolism, including a blue ribbon that winds through the book, visually connecting ancestors, history, and children today.
A MUST-HAVE FOR ELEMENTARY LIBRARIES
This book received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.
Recommended for ages 4–8, this is an excellent read-aloud for Black History Month or lessons about ancestry, identity, resilience, cultural heritage, and belonging. Most importantly, it presents Black history not simply as something that happened long ago, but as a living legacy carried forward by children today.
MORE BLACK HISTORY
