Book Review: I Love My People

I Love My People is a celebration of Black history, cultural contributions and community in verse that’s great in the classroom or at home, during Black History Month or any other time.

The text is written by Kim Singleton with beautiful, realistic illustrations by Kim Holt. The book follows a brother and sister walking through their neighborhood and talking about different figures from Black history related to dance, math, sports, filmmaking and more.

The book includes a glossary at the back so if the people named in the story are unfamiliar to you, you’ll know a little bit more about them. Some will be familiar to most such as Venus and Serena Williams and Shirley Chisolm, while others are less well-known like the Nicolas Brothers, a 1930s-era dancing duo known for their acrobatic feats; or Gladys Mae West, a mathematician who helped develop GPS.

The book touches on celebrations of Black community like Juneteenth and Kwanzaa, the importance of faith and community, activism and the variety of hairstyles Black people wear.

Each two-page spread includes information about important people and aspects of Black culture, with each verse ending “I love my people.”

This short book is a quick read that leaves you a lot more to explore, from learning more about the people named in the book to researching other figures from Black history and the present day. It’s joyful, full of details both in the text and the illustrations, and educational for people who might not know all of the people named in the story.

This would be a great book to add to your shelf or as a read aloud for Black History Month or any other time, because as the book says

Special names
With African roots,
Stories from Elders
You can’t find in books.
Family reunions
Kwanzaa and Juneteenth,
Black History Month
Spread over fifty-two weeks.

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover, published 2026 by Beaming Books. Suggested retail price $18.99.

Next Plan Idea:

Free Black History Month Coloring Sheets and…

Shark Week generally happens in July, but any time is a good time to learn more about sharks.

First, start with some fun whale facts like these from Kids Craft Room. Here I learned about the dwarf lantern shark, which is the smallest shark and only grows to about 6-8 inches (about 15-20 cm) long. It also emits light. How cool is that?

Natural Beach Living has some great printable shark information guides, where kids can learn about different kinds of sharks, match the facts to the pictures, or print out doubles and do a shark memory game.

Living Life an Learning has some great shark activity pages including the parts of a shark, types of sharks, a crossword puzzle and more. Also check out their parts of a shark and word scramble download, and a life cycle worksheet.

Learn about how sharks float with this great activity from JDaniel4’s Mom.

Need more facts about sharks? This fact pact from The WOLFe PACK on Teacher Pay Teachers includes fact sheets, a printable flip book, informational text, vocabulary, comprehension questions and more.

Living Montessori Now has a great collection of shark themed activities with a Montessori inspired twist. You’ll find a shark roll and cover, shark phonics and lots more shark activities Deb has collected from all over the Internet.

Remember the “Sharknado” movie? A Few Shortcuts turned the combination of sharks and tornadoes into a fun science activity. You’ll need a bottle connector for this project but otherwise should have everything you need on hand. Use their template to make your sharks out of aluminum foil. So fun!

You can also do some shark themed coloring with these coloring pages from Encouraging Moms at Home. Or make a cool 3D shark with this template from korkotak. And there are tons of different shark crafts collected in this post from Kids Activities Blog.

Next Plan Idea:

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