Here Comes the Band
$44.18
- Hardcover
42 pages
- Release Date
29 September 2026
Summary
Three starred reviews!
From Ezra Jack Keats Award and Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe New Talent Award winner Shadra Strickland comes a dazzling picture book about a young child who watches in awe as an HBCU band takes the field and works its magic.
The game is tied at seven. A hush falls over the stands. Get up and stand up, everybody! Here comes the band!
Everyone has their favorite part of a football game, but at a historically Black college or un…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781665965880 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1665965886 |
| Author: | Shadra Strickland, John Holyfield |
| Publisher: | Simon & Schuster |
| Imprint: | Denene Millner Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 42 |
| Release Date: | 29 September 2026 |
| Weight: | 467g |
| Dimensions: | 10mm x 229mm x 279mm |
| Audience Age: | 4-8 |
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Critics Review
★ “Capturing the precision, spirit, and cultural pride at the heart of the show, it’s a dynamic collective performance that spotlights the experience of a young “biggest fan.”” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
★ “Richly saturated spreads pulse with movement, musicality, and Black joy, capturing not only the precision and pageantry of each performance group but also the communal exhilaration radiating between performers and crowd. Readers new to marching bands and those long-steeped in their thrills will be equally hooked from the first page all the way to the last, where informative notes from the creators trace the enduring cultural significance of HBCU marching bands, as well as their own personal connections to the topic.
Halftime is game time—and now storytime, too.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
★ “A great read-aloud to introduce readers to all the grace and rhythm of marching bands as well as the vibrant, enduring culture present at HBCUs.” – School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Shadra Strickland
Shadra Strickland was raised in Atlanta. She graduated from Syracuse University and later completed her MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Shadra won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009 for her illustrations in her first picture book, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott. Strickland co-illustrated Our Children Can Soar, written by Michelle Cook and winner of a 2010 NAACP Image Award. She has published with Lee and Low Books, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Candlewick, Chronicle Books, and Little Brown. Her books have received recognition from the American Library Association, Junior Library Guild, and other prominent literary lists. Shadra currently heads the illustration department at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland.
John Holyfield is a renowned fine artist and illustrator of numerous books for young readers, including Belle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Bettye Stroud; Meet Miss Fancy by Irene Latham; Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens by Nina Noland; and The Hallelujah Flight by Phil Bildner. John lives in Virginia.
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