About this item
"When Barbara Jordan talked, we listened." - Former President of the United States, Bill Clinton Congresswoman Barbara Jordan had a big, bold, confident voice - and she knew how to use it! Learn all about her amazing career in this illuminating and inspiring picture book biography of the lawyer, educator, politician, and civil rights leader.Even as a child growing up in the Fifth Ward of Houston, Texas, Barbara Jordan stood out for her big, bold, booming, crisp, clear, confident voice. It was a voice that made people sit up, stand up, and take notice. So what do you do with a voice like that? Barbara took her voice to places few African American women had been in the 1960s: first law school, then the Texas state senate, then up to the United States congress. Throughout her career, she persevered through adversity to give voice to the voiceless and to fight for civil rights, equality, and justice. New York Times bestselling author Chris Barton and Caldecott Honoree Ekua Holmes deliver a remarkable picture book biography about a woman whose struggles and mission continue to inspire today.
About the Author
I'm the author of picture books including bestseller SHARK VS. TRAIN, Sibert Honor-winning THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS, and WHOOSH! LONNIE JOHNSON'S SUPER-SOAKING STREAM OF INVENTIONS, which has been included on 21 state reading lists. Other well-known titles of mine include HOW TO MAKE A BOOK (ABOUT MY DOG) , FIRE TRUCK VS. DRAGON, DAZZLE SHIPS, THE AMAZING AGE OF JOHN ROY LYNCH, and WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A VOICE LIKE THAT?My newest books include GLITTER EVERYWHERE! WHERE IT CAME FROM, WHERE IT'S FOUND & WHERE IT'S GOING (illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat; 2023) and MOVING FORWARD: FROM SPACE-AGE RIDES TO CIVIL RIGHTS SIT-INS WITH AIRMAN ALTON YATES (illustrated by Steffi Walthall; a School Library Journal Best Book of 2022) .I visit schools by the score and also love speaking to professional gatherings of librarians, educators, and fellow writers. I'm married to middle-grade/YA novelist Jennifer Ziegler (WORSER, HOW NOT TO BE POPULAR) . Jennifer and I have four adult children and one dog, and we co-host the children's literature video series "This One's Dedicated to ... " in which we talk with other authors and illustrators about the dedications they've written for their books. Jennifer and I live in Austin, where I serve as a council member of the Texas Institute of Letters, a 501(c) (3) non-profit honor society founded in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. For more information about me, please visit or
