c.2026, Bright Matter Books
$20.99
351 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
You knew it years ago.
When you were little and people asked you what you wanted to do when you grew up, the answer was obvious: you had a dream and an idea. Sure, other interests caught your eye once in awhile but you always came back to that one plan, this one thing. As in the new book, Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson (adapted for young readers), you might be a kid but you’ve always known what you wanted.
When she was just four years old, little Ketanji Brown sat with her father at their kitchen table most evenings, watching as he studied his books and prepared for a career in law. He sometimes included his daughter by playfully asking for her advice on his lessons, a memory stuck with her for the rest of her life and instilled a lifelong intrigue for legal matters.
Brown Jackson says that she was lucky to have had so many inspirational, focused ancestors to give her family a solid base, and she was fortunate to be born in the fall of 1970, to parents who had worked hard to secure Civil Rights. They encouraged that same activism in their children, and they expected excellence in their education. For as long as Brown Jackson could remember, they nurtured in her “a spirit of perseverance,” allowed for extracurricular activities, and they helped her seize many opportunities.
She continued to be a good student and a good kid. Then one afternoon, everything clicked into place.
A few days before her 12th birthday, she says, she discovered a magazine article about a Black woman, a lawyer, who broke ground before Brown Jackson was even born, and it “would extend my horizons.” She realized that the memory of studying with her father “was only the beginning for me,” she says.
Little did she know then that she, too, would break ground someday…
There is, of course, more to the story of author Ketanji Brown Jackson’s life, her career, and her history-making appointment to the Supreme Court, and Lovely One brings readers up to date. For a kid, that’s great but the bigger appeal may come from the way the story’s told here. In this version, adapted for young readers, time is taken to show that Justice Jackson was just an ordinary kid once.
Playing, attending classes she loved and ones she disliked, traveling, spending time with her grandparents, getting a new sibling, these are experiences Jackson shares with young readers, and they’re very engaging. Her narrative, though it uses adult-level language, is easy to grasp and quite relatable for her audience, and her excitement at some of her life’s highlights is delightfully charming. Jackson never talks down to kids who read this book, nor to the grown-ups who might find it less daunting than its similar adult version.
If a biography is on your 12-and-up student’s reading list, think of this book first. For you, and for a kid who needs inspiration, finding Lovely One is the thing to do.