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Nikki Grimes
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Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope Paperback – Picture Book, January 24, 2012

by Nikki Grimes (Author), Bryan Collier (Illustrator)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 190 ratings
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The #1 New York Times bestselling picture-book biography of President Barack Obama.

Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn’t quite like anybody else, but through his journeys he found the ability to listen to Hope and become what he was meant to be: a bridge to bring people together.

This is the moving story of our 44th President, told by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Bryan Collier, both winners of the Coretta Scott King Award. Barack Obama has motivated Americans to believe with him, to believe that every one of us has the power to change ourselves and change our world.
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  1. Reading age
    3 - 9 years, from customers
  2. Print length
    48 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    Kindergarten - 3
  5. Lexile measure
    AD630L
  6. Dimensions
    10 x 0.3 x 10 inches
  7. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
  8. Publication date
    January 24, 2012
  9. ISBN-10
    1442440929
  10. ISBN-13
    978-1442440920
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her distinguished works include the ALA Notable book What Is Goodbye?, as well as the novels Jazmin’s Notebook, Dark Sons, and The Road to Paris, all of them Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books. She won the Coretta Scott King Author Award for Bronx Masquerade. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California. Visit Nikki at NikkiGrimes.com.

Bryan Collier is a beloved illustrator known for his unique style combining watercolor and detailed collage. He is a four-time Caldecott Honor recipient for Trombone Shorty, Dave the Potter, Martin’s Big Words, and Rosa. His books have won many other awards as well, including six Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards. His recent books include By and By,Thurgood, The Five O’Clock Band, and Between the Lines. He lives in New York with his family.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (January 24, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1442440929
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1442440920
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 3 - 9 years, from customers
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ AD630L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ Kindergarten - 3
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10 x 0.3 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 190 ratings

About the author

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Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes

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Nikki Grimes dabbles in watercolors and collage (she created one of the illustrations for One Last Word!), she crafts handmade books, cards and beaded jewelry, is a textile artist, and once sang, danced and acted her way down the east coast of China. Her primary passion, though, is writing books for children and young adults. Her complete bibliography of trade and mass market books number close to 100. Her trade titles include historical fiction, biographies, chapter books, and novels in prose. However, poetry and novels-in-verse are her genres of choice.

A bestselling author, Grimes is the recipient of the 2017 Children's Literature Legacy Award, the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Other awards include the Coretta Scott King Award for Bronx Masquerade; CSK Honors for Jazmin's Notebook, Talkin' About Bessie, Dark Sons, The Road to Paris, and Words With Wings; the NAACP Image Award for New York Times Bestseller Barack Obama:Son of Promise, Child of Hope; The Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry; Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for One Last Word; Claudia Lewis Poetry Award; the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award; the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor; Horn Book Fanfare for Talkin' About Bessie; The Horace Mann Upstanders Book Award; the VOYA Non-Fiction Honor; The Lion & The Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry; International Youth Library White Ravens List; ALA Notables for What is Goodbye? and Words With Wings; Notable Books for a Global Society, and more.

The novel Growin' marked Grimes' entry into children's literature. In addition, her books include Something on My Mind—her first book of poetry—A Dime a Dozen, From A Child's Heart, A Girl Named Mister, Planet Middle School, Aneesa Lee & The Weaver's Gift, Chasing Freedom, the popular Dyamonde Daniel chapter book series, the beloved Meet Danitra Brown, Wild, Wild Hair, and Welcome Precious.

A much anthologized poet, her own collections include Pocketful of Poems, Poems in the Attic, Thanks a Million, When Daddy Prays, Come Sunday, Voices of Christmas, When Gorilla Goes Walking, and Shoe Magic. Check the bibliography on her website for a full listing.

In addition to her work for children, Grimes has written articles for such magazines as Essence, Horn Book, Today's Christian Woman, Book Links, English Journal, and Image: Journal of Arts & Religion, among others.

Those who follow her on social media know that Grimes is also a photographer and avid gardener with a special penchant for roses. They also know that a new poem is apt to pop up on her wall at any given time, especially if something heavy is on her heart, usually in response to a report of social injustice.

Social justice is one of the themes readers find in books written by Grimes, often set against an urban landscape. Her themes, though, are wide-ranging: bullying, friendship, foster care, forgiveness, gratitude, empathy, identity, mental illness, loss, sexual assault—all find a place in her work. Whether the themes are light or heavy, the consistent thread of hope, in stories laced with humor, are hallmarks of books written by Nikki Grimes.

Her most recent titles include the much-acclaimed novel-in-verse Garvey's Choice the groundbreaking poetry collection, One Last Word, and the picture book The Watcher. Her much anticipated memoir, Ordinary Hazards, releases October 8, 2019.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
190 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the story engaging, good, and serious. They also appreciate the poetic, rich writing style and beautiful illustrations. Readers say the book is a great gift for any child and a great buy for a young child.

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Story qualityWriting styleVisual qualityGift value
13 customers mention "Story quality"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the story engaging, well-written, and time well spent. They describe the book as poetic, rich, and a wonderful history lesson for kids and adults. Readers also appreciate the can-do attitude.

"...The art, well, much of it is just breathtaking. I wish I could share more of it here...." Read more

"Such a wonderful story about our President. It will always have a place in our library of books." Read more

"...It is engaging and the illustrations add a lot to the experience...." Read more

"It's a beautiful book that's a good read for any youngster. I read it with my 2nd grader and he loved it...." Read more

12 customers mention "Writing style"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style poetic, rich, and beautiful. They say it's a wonderful book for teaching metaphors, similes, and descriptive language. Readers also mention the book is inspirational and connects them to similar circumstances.

"I think Nikki Grimes' middle name must be Lyric. There is poetry on every single page of this book. Poetry, and as the title says, Promise and Hope...." Read more

"...Great device used by a master writer. Don't forget who is writing, you get nothing but masterful in her text...." Read more

"...This book was very inspiring. My 5 year old saw this book in her School's Library and asked to check the book out...." Read more

"...to capture something of the Obama's personality and communicate something emotional, particularly of the period running up to the election of 2008..." Read more

8 customers mention "Visual quality"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the illustrations beautiful, nice, and sweet. They also appreciate the mix of textures and colors.

"...I wish I could share more of it here. It's a mix of textures and colors, torn images, paint, and lines, and it all blends together - a great..." Read more

"...Now I really like the beautiful illustrations and know this artist from other work...." Read more

"...Bryan Collier is a brilliant illustrator. Beautiful work. I cannot wait to receive it and give it to my young niece...." Read more

"It's a beautiful book that's a good read for any youngster. I read it with my 2nd grader and he loved it...." Read more

5 customers mention "Gift value"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a great gift for any child. They also say it's a good buy for young children.

"...Books like this are so great as classroom gifts...." Read more

"...Great buy for a young child." Read more

"...I think this is a great gift idea and it went over well with his parents." Read more

"Love the book. Great gift for my grandsons" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Roxyanne Young
5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic, rich, and I can't wait to share it with our students
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2008
Verified Purchase
I think Nikki Grimes' middle name must be Lyric. There is poetry on every single page of this book. Poetry, and as the title says, Promise and Hope. Grimes, ever the artist in words, weaves her images with historical facts in presenting this biography of the man who may very well change the world, through the words of a mother explaining to her son just who this guy with the "mouthful" of a name and the people shouting.

From a strictly educational standpoint, this is a wonderful book for teaching metaphor, simile, and descriptive language. It's absolutely lush with images. The teachers in the school where I work as a librarian are already drooling over this one. Here are a couple of quotes to illustrate my point:

"His family stretched from Kansas to Kenya, his mama, white as whipped cream, his daddy, black as ink...Love is the bridge that held them all together."

"Honolulu looked like heaven. But even though the blue of the sea was sharp enough to slice the sun, and the sun warmed the sand between his toes, and the sand sparkled like diamonds, nothing could fill the hole in Barry's heart once his daddy went away."

Tough issues are handled here with grace and compassion, and so is the exotic childhood landscape in which Barack Obama was privileged to grow up, beauty and harshness together. Grimes presents these for young readers in such a way as to let them know that this boy went through both good times and hard times, and as he grew into a man, he learned from his life experiences and listened and watched and soaked in the voice of Hope, and later, prayerfully, the voice of God.

As I read, I was moved by the beauty of Grimes' language, but also by the beauty of the message here. The mother and son's dialog seemed tacked on at first, and distracted me from it, but as I read, I understood that Grimes had imbued the boy with the voice of the young reader, that he was asking the questions they would ask, and making the connections that many of them would make. Brilliant.

Some may call this over-the-top on the glorification of Obama, but I call it rich writing. It is engaging and I am looking forward to sharing this with our students. Besides, if ever there was a time we needed an over-the-top message of Hope, perseverence, and the breaking down of barriers, it's now, and most especially for this generation.

The art, well, much of it is just breathtaking. I wish I could share more of it here. It's a mix of textures and colors, torn images, paint, and lines, and it all blends together - a great reflection of the lyricism in Grimes' words.

I highly recommend this book. Love is indeed the bridge that holds us all together, after all. "Can we make America better? Can we work together as one?" Yes, we can.

Roxyanne Young
Editorial Director
SmartWriters.com
17 people found this helpful
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a gentle sound
5.0 out of 5 stars A Song to the future
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2009
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Some children's books are read to them at times when they fall to sleep or when they just wake and are really with you, in a classroom after lunch at U Pick It Time, and these moments contain the hope and dreams of the reader for the child....yes in a way it is the instilling of this...yes, we do that. As a teacher the greatest sadness comes when no one cares enough to do that or really cannot in illiteracy and poverty or in a state that they are so self involved and cynical they are frozen. Perhaps it's a song sung into the heart of a child as our meanings, we desire they fully attend on some unseen level, and the personal prayer of continuing on this represents is wished into them. It will come into their being as meaningful one day, our hope. You cannot find that wrong. It is the work of the adults in raising children, ever a hard and important work.
Nikki Grimes' text is read like this into children.

This book opens with the premise that this is being told on a day from a mother to son, a song of hope and an embodiment of that being demonstrated as she tells him Obama's story. He is sitting, questioning, applying, making text connection of course to SELF. Just as a child will do with a great story. How am I like him. It's meant to connect to King on some invisible level, and contains other echoes and it does something here hard to write.....it connects. Here hope for future is repeated like a refrain to the child, explained, put into real form as an example within Barack Obama's life.... over the paralyzing of fear, poverty, really the notions that hold us back, and the drain of inadequacy and measuring up is being eschewed. Hope is defined and displayed as the operant within this leader. As an operant for this child from his mother to hold in hard times as meaning.
If only it can be heard.

I like the way the story works because I recognize her poetic devices and I like the way this telling mother and son keep reappearing in this text so that we take it back into our lives, into real lives and into personal contexts. Great device used by a master writer. Don't forget who is writing, you get nothing but masterful in her text.

Now I really like the beautiful illustrations and know this artist from other work. I'd prefer exact likenesses of Obama, these aren't, but even there I suspect it's more off to give this to the thought that it might be many of our stories. It's funny but it calls to me of the lines and stiffness of Grant Wood and WPA artists. I hope fervently artists are employed again to transmit the message of hope to this nation in this our worst crisis in many years. Great work.

Books like this are so great as classroom gifts. We most likely lack them and (at least in CA) our schools are being dismantled through the politics of greed, and now AFTER the choice was made of a leader, it is nice to delve into teaching children as positively as possible about the President. We teach to young children who is their nation's leader naturally. It's so confusing for them these concepts. One of mine happily thinking MLK was now back as the President with a new life and name. It helps to be able to use story, and here story based in a man telling his life in his own way. Nice to share this "how to grow up" construct of making choices based in hope with kids. You know kids in my room are very young, in difficult lives, they need to see successful males demonstrate in their choices hope (and in their lives reach toward love and hope.) Over half my class knows no Dad and some are in foster care with the greatest of difficulties to face daily and from inside their contexts they must spring into good lives.Yes, they can. Here, finally a man does not give in to the inclination to see difficulties as destroying him, but making him who he is. A quilt of meaning.

You have to take that from this book. A song of hope sung to children.
I recommend it along with some reins on the politicizing and deploying of cynicism into the young. They are on a long journey. It matters to know some hope along the way. Our job might be to pass that along.
20 people found this helpful
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sherian
5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2024
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Such a wonderful story about our President. It will always have a place in our library of books.
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Top reviews from other countries

FChandu
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
Love this book. It focuses on many aspects of Obama, including his fear of not fitting in because he is not like his mother or father. Brilliant book for mixed race children.
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Sonia
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2017
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A lovely book in mint condition.
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Unga Bunga
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 29, 2016
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Goods as described. Fast shipping. Highly recommend
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