\u201cWhen Barbara Jordan talked, we listened.\u201d \u2014Former President of the United States, Bill Clinton<\/span><\/p>\n

The late Honorable Barbara Jordan grew up in Houston\u2019s Fifth Ward. \u201cShe may have looked like other kids \u2026 acted like other kids,\u201d Chris Barton writes. \u201cBut she sure didn\u2019t sound like other kids. Not with that voice of hers.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Y\u2019all remember that voice, yes? Sounded like the voice of God, deep and rich, sounded like the voice of moral authority, the voice of profoundly felt convictions. \u201cThat big, bold, booming, crisp, clear, confident voice,\u201d in Barton\u2019s words. \u201cIt caused folks to sit right up, stand up straight, and take notice.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is the new picture book from Austinite Chris Barton, author of the best-selling Shark vs. Train<\/em>, Sibert Honor\u2013winning The Day-Glo Brothers<\/em>, and Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List books The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch<\/em> (2016\u201317) and Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson\u2019s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions<\/em> (2017\u201318). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When I spoke with Barton a few weeks ago, he called Jordan \u201ca true Texas hero\u201d whose career in the Texas Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and on the faculty of the LBJ School of Public Affairs \u201cset a shining example of how to take a natural gift and put it to use for the benefit of one\u2019s community, state, and nation.\u201d <\/span><\/span>The phrase \u201cWhat do you do with a voice like that?\u201d is a refrain throughout the book.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cFirst you give that voice something to say.\u201d Barton writes that Jordan began with reciting poetry in church, memorizing speeches for school, and entering \u2014 and winning \u2014 oratory contests. When an African American lawyer visited Jordan\u2019s high school to speak to the students, Jordan found her calling.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cYou give it more knowledge to work with.\u201d Jordan graduated from college and law school.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIn 1960, America was not as free or as fair a place as it could be,\u201d Barton writes. \u201cBarbara believed that politics could change that.\u201d One night when a scheduled speaker at a political event wasn\u2019t able to attend, Jordan spoke instead. The audience was inspired and Jordan, finally, \u201cknew just what to do with a voice like that.\u201d She ran for office.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Listening to Jordan speak about President Nixon and Watergate from her position on the House judiciary committee in 1974 gives me chill bumps every time I hear it. Y\u2019all remember, yes? \u201cMy faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.\u201d <\/span><\/span>As Barton writes, \u201cThe president, Barbara said, must go. The president went.\u201d What a spectacular use of that voice in service to the nation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Ekua Holmes is a fine artist and illustrator who lives not far from where Jordan attended law school at Boston University. Her debut picture book, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement<\/em>, won multiple awards, including a Caldecott Medal. Holmes was influenced early on by what she saw as a lack of positive images of African Americans and believes that art can help right that wrong. In her collages, she layers newspaper, photos, fabric, and other materials, to create compositions saturated in color and infused with personality.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What Do You do with a Voice Like That?<\/em> is recommended for ages four to eight, grades preschool through third. The concepts are sophisticated but in Barton\u2019s hands understandable, engaging, and inspiring for youngsters. I will pass this beautiful book along to my grandsons so they can learn, free of simple-minded jingoism, what it means to be a patriot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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