Jennifer Nicole Bacon’s book, I Am an Antiracist Superhero: With Activities to Help You Be One Too! is exactly what you expect of a modern day, antiracist picture book. It is a bit dated as it talks about the protests surrounding George Floyd, but the rest is anytime information. The information included is less about being racist or antiracist, but how you can be a good person or a superhero. It is about speaking up when you see someone is being picked on or something is unfair; telling a parent/trusted adult in those situations, or being a good listener, even trying to help others by saying a kind word, including them on the playground, being their friend. Also, realizing if you are the one saying something hurtful and how that makes you and others feel. There are the historical people mentioned of Rosa Parks, James Baldwin, Ruby Bridges and Wynta-Amor Rogers.
These four people are given their own page with information on how they are famous antiracists. This page is drawn in a manner that is realistic, but obviously it is illustrated. The real people are portrayed in a smooth, soft, almost faded, dreamy way, which is a contrast to the rest of the art by Leticia Moreno. The rest of the pages are done as bold colored cartoon images. There is a mix of crowded detailed pages and more simplified imagery.
The children who are the friends of our main character are diverse with being different races and abilities, but that is not the focus, but the theme of being a superhero is. The activities at the end are ways the reader can partake in things that will make them a hero, too. Due early September 2023 this was read via an online reader copy.
