PICTURE BOOKS
Winter, Jonah

My Name Is James Madison Hemings

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Terry Widener. Illustrated with handsome acrylic paintings, this is an affecting story of a mixed-race enslaved boy (explicitly revealed as Thomas Jefferson's son at story's end) who wonders how his father can also be his master. Winter's excellent, detailed author's note states this first-person picture book is "historical fiction" based on research and limited primary-source documentation; it also delves into contradictions in Jefferson's legacy and American history.

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