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Little Black Boy: Oh, the Things You Will Do!
A little Black boy finds the courage to go after his dreams in this empowering and inspirational picture book by actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste ( The Sandman ) with actor Larry Fields.
With vivid, dimensional illustrations by Paul Davey, this encouraging and hopeful picture book celebrates the joy of being a little Black boy and their bright futures.
Fascinated by marine wildlife, a little Black boy dreams of one day swimming in the ocean alongside all the creatures that make it their home. It will take courage to move from the safety of the swimming pool to the vastness of the ocean, but as he begins his journey of discovery, he soon finds there’s nothing he can’t do. He realizes if he cares about the animals in the ocean, he must also care about their home and sets out to preserve the beaches he loves by picking up trash. This little boy is determined not only to reach his dream of becoming a marine biologist, but to make a difference in the world and to share his passion of environmental conservation with everyone.
Little Black Boy, Oh the things you will do.
Has anyone mentioned the world’s open to you?
With vivid, dimensional illustrations by Paul Davey, this encouraging and hopeful picture book celebrates the joy of being a little Black boy and their bright futures.
Fascinated by marine wildlife, a little Black boy dreams of one day swimming in the ocean alongside all the creatures that make it their home. It will take courage to move from the safety of the swimming pool to the vastness of the ocean, but as he begins his journey of discovery, he soon finds there’s nothing he can’t do. He realizes if he cares about the animals in the ocean, he must also care about their home and sets out to preserve the beaches he loves by picking up trash. This little boy is determined not only to reach his dream of becoming a marine biologist, but to make a difference in the world and to share his passion of environmental conservation with everyone.
Little Black Boy, Oh the things you will do.
Has anyone mentioned the world’s open to you?
32 pages, Hardcover
Published November 15, 2022
39 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 12, 2023
Little Black Boy: Oh, the Things You Will Do! was sitting on a shelf of new titles when I visited my library yesterday, and after paging through it and realizing it was a poetry picturebook, I decided to give it a read as one of my poetry trade books. Although it was not recommended to me by anyone (can I argue the library itself made the recommendation?) and has not won any awards (yet), I decided to write my review about it as I felt it was a far better, more satisfying picturebook than Poem in My Pocket, which has won an award.
The book is made up of a series of loosely connected "vignettes" that depict a young Black boy learning to swim, his love of aquatic wildlife, and his desire to become a marine biologist. All of this is told mainly through the imagery - the reader has to make many inferences throughout the narrative to piece together the “story”. The poetry, which is usually a single couplet per page, isn't narrating the illustrations. Instead, the poetry is used to communicate to Black children that they are full of insight and imagination, and that they will go far in this world - all they have to do is try.
There is a real beauty to this picturebook I thoroughly enjoyed, from the encouraging voice of the narrator to the rich and vivid illustrations. The words and pictures may not align, but they work in tandem to create a rewarding story that tells children that there is no obstacle to great or endeavor to large to overcome. The illustrations by Paul Davey are straightforward and well drawn. There is a realism to his art that I think works well with the subject matter. If the illustrations were more cartoonish or abstract, it might be distracting for the reader, taking some focus away from the book’s themes. I also like how there is not a speck of white space on the page. It’s visually striking to see every inch of the page taken up with color, but it actually makes the images (and book as whole) feel physically larger than they really are, which I think helps to underscore the overall theme of the narrative.
As a work of poetry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Larry C. Fields III have created a piece of literature that meets a lot of the criteria from Children’s Books in Children’s Hands. It certainly possesses the “positive spirit” mentioned on page 162. It is also both thoughtful in its messaging and accessible to most readers (p. 143), even readers who may not enjoy or comprehend poetry. And Little Black Boy has a great rhythm and rhyme scheme that, while simple in its construction, makes reading the book aloud a true pleasure.
Howell-Baptiste, Fields, and Davey have crafted a wonderfully simple picturebook that is almost completely a mirror. While it may not reflect a purely authentic representation of the culture of Black students, it does offer them characters that will resemble them - especially boys. Plus, I think that an accurate representation of culture is not the intent. In my opinion, the picturebook is meant to offer encouragement to Black boys - to lift them up in such a way that will enable their dreams to take shape. More than anything, I think this book was written to inspire hope in Black boys that despite what they may see or hear, they are capable of anything.
The book is made up of a series of loosely connected "vignettes" that depict a young Black boy learning to swim, his love of aquatic wildlife, and his desire to become a marine biologist. All of this is told mainly through the imagery - the reader has to make many inferences throughout the narrative to piece together the “story”. The poetry, which is usually a single couplet per page, isn't narrating the illustrations. Instead, the poetry is used to communicate to Black children that they are full of insight and imagination, and that they will go far in this world - all they have to do is try.
There is a real beauty to this picturebook I thoroughly enjoyed, from the encouraging voice of the narrator to the rich and vivid illustrations. The words and pictures may not align, but they work in tandem to create a rewarding story that tells children that there is no obstacle to great or endeavor to large to overcome. The illustrations by Paul Davey are straightforward and well drawn. There is a realism to his art that I think works well with the subject matter. If the illustrations were more cartoonish or abstract, it might be distracting for the reader, taking some focus away from the book’s themes. I also like how there is not a speck of white space on the page. It’s visually striking to see every inch of the page taken up with color, but it actually makes the images (and book as whole) feel physically larger than they really are, which I think helps to underscore the overall theme of the narrative.
As a work of poetry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Larry C. Fields III have created a piece of literature that meets a lot of the criteria from Children’s Books in Children’s Hands. It certainly possesses the “positive spirit” mentioned on page 162. It is also both thoughtful in its messaging and accessible to most readers (p. 143), even readers who may not enjoy or comprehend poetry. And Little Black Boy has a great rhythm and rhyme scheme that, while simple in its construction, makes reading the book aloud a true pleasure.
Howell-Baptiste, Fields, and Davey have crafted a wonderfully simple picturebook that is almost completely a mirror. While it may not reflect a purely authentic representation of the culture of Black students, it does offer them characters that will resemble them - especially boys. Plus, I think that an accurate representation of culture is not the intent. In my opinion, the picturebook is meant to offer encouragement to Black boys - to lift them up in such a way that will enable their dreams to take shape. More than anything, I think this book was written to inspire hope in Black boys that despite what they may see or hear, they are capable of anything.
February 11, 2025
Great rhyming story with minimal text and gorgeous, bold, realistic illustrations. Black boys and men are celebrated for everything they can do, learn, and become. An empowering story to encourage them to be themselves and ignore other messages about who they SHOULD be.
We watch a young black boy develop an interest in fish, water, swimming, the ocean, and finally becoming a marine biologist who supports ocean life, and teaches other black boys how they can do amazing things, too.
We watch a young black boy develop an interest in fish, water, swimming, the ocean, and finally becoming a marine biologist who supports ocean life, and teaches other black boys how they can do amazing things, too.
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January 30, 2023Text-To-World Connection
While reading this story, I shed a tear. This book is what our young black boys need to hear today. Every year, our black boys and men are underattack. Black boys have always been told they were already born with one strike on their back, and that's because of the color of their skin. If I had super powers and would protect all the little black boys, no matter where they are. I will continue to uplift and let them know, they are kings and made perfectly. Even when the world does not love them. I will continue to fight for them Great read!
While reading this story, I shed a tear. This book is what our young black boys need to hear today. Every year, our black boys and men are underattack. Black boys have always been told they were already born with one strike on their back, and that's because of the color of their skin. If I had super powers and would protect all the little black boys, no matter where they are. I will continue to uplift and let them know, they are kings and made perfectly. Even when the world does not love them. I will continue to fight for them Great read!
April 23, 2023
Actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste has teamed up with actor Larry C. Fields III to create this book of encouragement for little Black boys, and their families. Also, mega-talented artist Paul Davey is back, glad to notice.
Funny, today I just finished reading "Little Black Girl" by the same author. I loved the illustrations, as well as the encouragement in the text.
This time around, with this book for boys, I find that the pictures look stagey. Seems to me, it's as though the models for these pictures have been coached to emote-emote-emote.
For instance, that adorb little guy who is watching colorful fish in an aquarium? His eyes watch them with a kind of dramatic urgency; his lips are parted in wonderment; his hands are clenched. And why exactly?
Children I've known, including boys and including black boys, have a very different way of learning with fascination. Basically, they're learning, not performing. By contrast Aquarium Watcher Boy is performing really-really hard. (Or so it seems to me.)
If this kid weren't the only person pictured here who's over-acting, I wouldn't have noted this in a review. But geesh! Page after page shows movie-quality intensity, as if each model did multiple takes in order to nail the particular moment of high drama that the authors desired.
As for the writing? Again, it's a speech, rather than a story; this is not even remotely like a conversation in print. If anything, the language in this book for boys strikes me as even more stilted than the oratory (not regular words) in "Little Black Girl."
For example, regarding this next line that I'm about to quote for you Goodreaders? It doesn't encourage me particularly. Obviously I'm only a grownup, and a senior; I'm not Black, not male. But still, I'm human enough to wonder, would most little Black boys thrill to words like these?
But fail you will not, because you are a king.
IN CONCLUSION
FIVE STARS because the intent is lovely. If I found more books like this, only better, I might not have given this one so many stars....
Funny, today I just finished reading "Little Black Girl" by the same author. I loved the illustrations, as well as the encouragement in the text.
This time around, with this book for boys, I find that the pictures look stagey. Seems to me, it's as though the models for these pictures have been coached to emote-emote-emote.
For instance, that adorb little guy who is watching colorful fish in an aquarium? His eyes watch them with a kind of dramatic urgency; his lips are parted in wonderment; his hands are clenched. And why exactly?
Children I've known, including boys and including black boys, have a very different way of learning with fascination. Basically, they're learning, not performing. By contrast Aquarium Watcher Boy is performing really-really hard. (Or so it seems to me.)
If this kid weren't the only person pictured here who's over-acting, I wouldn't have noted this in a review. But geesh! Page after page shows movie-quality intensity, as if each model did multiple takes in order to nail the particular moment of high drama that the authors desired.
As for the writing? Again, it's a speech, rather than a story; this is not even remotely like a conversation in print. If anything, the language in this book for boys strikes me as even more stilted than the oratory (not regular words) in "Little Black Girl."
For example, regarding this next line that I'm about to quote for you Goodreaders? It doesn't encourage me particularly. Obviously I'm only a grownup, and a senior; I'm not Black, not male. But still, I'm human enough to wonder, would most little Black boys thrill to words like these?
But fail you will not, because you are a king.
IN CONCLUSION
FIVE STARS because the intent is lovely. If I found more books like this, only better, I might not have given this one so many stars....
January 20, 2023
Little Black Boy: Oh, the Things you Will Do! (2022) by Kirby Howell-Baptiste with illustrations by Paul Davey is a good story told in rhyming verse about a black boy's love of water and how that love grows into a career in marine biology.
While I enjoyed it for the most part, I felt like this story is told a lot, and I know for good reason. I think children need encouragement in this time and place we live in. There are so many people who tell everybody no and there's a wonderful line in the story that goes something like knowledge is power and that's why it's withheld so that certain people don't grow. That's very powerful.
I think where this book fell for me was that I didn't really like the illustrations. It looked like computer-generated art which I'm not a fan of. That doesn't mean this book won't mean the world to somebody else. I'm just there are children out there that will be inspired by it, I'm just not the person that connected to it the way I connect to books. It just felt like I've read this story a lot and while its message is strong, it felt like it's been done before. Kind of like how I keep repeating myself over and over in this review. LOL
Plus, I'm always wearier of celebrity-written books. My rating - 3/5
While I enjoyed it for the most part, I felt like this story is told a lot, and I know for good reason. I think children need encouragement in this time and place we live in. There are so many people who tell everybody no and there's a wonderful line in the story that goes something like knowledge is power and that's why it's withheld so that certain people don't grow. That's very powerful.
I think where this book fell for me was that I didn't really like the illustrations. It looked like computer-generated art which I'm not a fan of. That doesn't mean this book won't mean the world to somebody else. I'm just there are children out there that will be inspired by it, I'm just not the person that connected to it the way I connect to books. It just felt like I've read this story a lot and while its message is strong, it felt like it's been done before. Kind of like how I keep repeating myself over and over in this review. LOL
Plus, I'm always wearier of celebrity-written books. My rating - 3/5
December 7, 2022
The illustrations are colorful and luminous, and the simple text is filled with positive messages. Some pages emphasize that it's okay to cry, to struggle, and to fail, and I appreciate how the book pushes back against unhealthy ideas about masculinity without getting preachy or using buzzwords. The book celebrates the strength of Black boys and men, their capabilities, and the ways that they trailblaze for others in the future.
There is also a companion book for girls: Little Black Girl: Oh, the Things You Can Do!.
There is also a companion book for girls: Little Black Girl: Oh, the Things You Can Do!.
February 25, 2024
Little Black Boy intended audience is people of an African American background. Little Black Boy Lexile level is AD590L and intended for grades preschool through 3rd. This book is about a little boy who dreams of swimming in the ocean with its wildlife. This book also shows how many people paved the way so that little boys can get to where they need to be, and nothing will stop them. This is an amazing book to have in the classroom because it will show younger boys that there is nothing that they cannot do and if you want something you are going to have to put in the work.
February 10, 2023
The illustrations were great and being able to see yourself represented in books is a good thing, (more Hispanic boys please) but the rhyming just didn't do it for me. Probably right book at wrong time as there have been a number of verse picture books just lately, some pretty bad in the way they scan, and I probably needed a break.
November 15, 2023
3.75 stars, for those who are looking for stories to empower and encourage our youth. This pairs nicely with Little Black Girl: Oh, the Things You Can Do! by the same author.
February 21, 2023
Highlighting the positivity of mindfulness and believing in yourself, this is an ode to Black boys, bringing it home to real Black men of science at the end.
The colors of the picture book that has an aquatic theme are rich and beautiful.
The colors of the picture book that has an aquatic theme are rich and beautiful.
November 15, 2022
Was really good kids and parents will enjoy
November 16, 2022
Cute rhyming text - storytime potential.
December 5, 2022
should be required reading for all little black boys 😍
December 17, 2022
Love the poetic lines. I would like to have a student remember and recite this
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December 18, 2022a very empowering poem & lovely images
January 18, 2023
Celebrity books usually aren't the best; however, these were really well done!
February 22, 2023
Nice encouraging message. Beautifully drawn.
April 26, 2023
This is a beautiful, empowering message to young black boys encouraging them to rise above not only their own doubts and fears but the negative messages they may get from the world around them.
February 2, 2024
loved the narrator voice
March 1, 2024
In this beautifully illustrated book, a Black boy feels the pressures of being told he's growing up too early, but chooses to enjoy his childhood and experience joy in the little things.
March 16, 2024
Between 4.79 to 5 star rating
September 19, 2024
*listened with Hendrix*
March 2, 2025
Great rhyming story
Absolutely stunning, colorful illustrations!!!
Absolutely stunning, colorful illustrations!!!
November 9, 2025
Love this one and beautiful illustrations.
June 1, 2023
Timely message.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews