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.

I did a post earlier this year with activities and ideas for teaching the alphabet, but a lot or learning letters and recognizing them just has to do with seeing them and working with them a lot.

That means coloring, tracing, identifying things that start with different letters and more.

One way to reinforce the letters is through little activity books like these cute printable alphabet books from Life Over Cs.

These are available for free when you subscribe to her newsletter, and I’d say that’s well worth it if you have a little one (or a group of little ones!) working on the alphabet and letter recognition.

Each mini book includes a collection of things that start with that letter to color, color and read with words that start with the letter, tracing the letter, finding the letter in a grid and other coloring pages with objects that start with that letter.

These little books are super useful reinforcing the different letters and giving kids different activities related to the letters.

If you do a letter of the day or letter of the week you can use a new book for each one, and then keep the copies in your reading center or in a basket where kids can look at them again.

And of course you can add in all the other letter activities you like, go on a scavenger hunt for items that start with that letter, read alphabet books, practice writing letters in rice or with pompoms or playdough or whatever sensory activities you like.

You can grab the free printables when you enter you email address at Life Over Cs, and check out her other great alphabet resources and activities while you are over there.

Do you have favorite activities for teaching letters to kids? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo: Life Over Cs]

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