Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller - Hardcover

by Breanna J. McDaniel (Author), April Harrison (Illustrator)

Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor
Kirkus Best Books of the Year
Chicago Public Library Best Books of the Year
New York Public Library Best Books of the Year
ALSC Notable Children's Books
Horn Book Fanfare
BolognaRazzi Award: Braw Amazing Bookshelf Sustainability Selection
ILA 2025 Notable Books for a Global Society
CLA/NCTE 2025 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts
NCSS 2025 Septima P. Clark Book Award Winner (Middle Level)
Five Starred Reviews

From an award-winning author and illustrator comes this picture book biography about beloved librarian and storyteller Augusta Braxton Baker, the first Black coordinator of children's services at all branches of the New York Public Library.

Before Augusta Braxton Baker became a storyteller, she was an excellent story listener. Her grandmother brought stories like Br'er Rabbit and Arthur and Excalibur to life, teaching young Augusta that when there's a will, there's always a way. When she grew up, Mrs. Baker began telling her own fantastical stories to children at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem. But she noticed that there were hardly any books at the library featuring Black people in respectful, uplifting ways. Thus began her journey of championing books, writers, librarians, and teachers centering Black stories, educating and inspiring future acclaimed authors like Audre Lorde and James Baldwin along the way.

As Mrs. Baker herself put it: "Children of all ages want to hear stories. Select well, prepare well and then go forth and just tell."

Author Biography

Breanna J. McDaniel (she/her/hers) is the co-founder of REIYL (Researchers Exploring Inclusive Youth Literature) and the award-winning author of the picture book Hands Up! and Impossible Moon. A proud alumna of Emory University and Simmons University, she is currently a PhD researcher at Cambridge University.

April Harrison is a Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe award winning illustrator and renowned folk artist. Her work appears in the public collections of Vanderbilt University, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, the Atlanta Housing Authority, and the Erskine University Museum, as well as in many private collections.