We Wait For The Sun

A beautiful and uplifting non-fiction picture book from Katie McCabe and trailblazing civil rights lawyer and activist Dovey Johnson Roundtree, We Wait for the Sun.

In the hour before dawn, Dovey Mae and Grandma Rachel step into the cool, damp night on a secret mission: to find the sweetest, ripest blackberries that grow deep in the woods.

But the nighttime holds a thousand sounds - and a thousand shadows - and Dovey Mae is frightened of the dark. But with the fierce and fearless Grandma Rachel at her side, the woods turn magical, and berry picking becomes an enchanting adventure that ends with the beauty and power of the sunrise.

A cherished memory from Dovey Johnson Roundtree's childhood, this magical experience speaks to the joy that pulsed through her life, even under the shadow of Jim Crow. With Grandma Rachel's lessons as her guiding light, Dovey Mae would go on to become a trailblazer of the civil rights movement - fighting for justice and equality in the military, the courtroom, and the church. With warm, vibrant illustrations from Raissa Figueroa, We Wait for the Sun is a resonant, beautiful story told through one exquisite page turn after another.

A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book of 2021
Evanston Public Library101 Great Books for Kids List of 2021

KATIE McCABEis the co-author, with Dovey Johnson Roundtree, of Roundtree's biography Mighty Justice, winner of the Association of Black Women Historians' Letitia Woods Brown Award. Her National Magazine Award-winning article on Black medical legend Vivien Thomas was the basis for the Emmy-winning HBO film Something the Lord Made . Raissa Figueroa is a children's book illustrator and overall art lover based out of San Diego, California. She loves taking in the early morning light while out on walks with her dog, Ghost, and letting her mind meander off to fantastical new places. Her other titles include Sophie and the Little Star, We Wait for the Sun, Oona and The More the Merrier .