Review: Juneteenth For Mazie Is A Celebration Of Freedom

Today is Juneteenth, or June 19th. The day in 1865 that all black people who were enslaved in America were finally freed! In celebration of this day, I’m reviewing the book Juneteenth For Mazie, written and illustrated by Floyd Cooper.

Instead of reading it like I usually read books, like in printed form, I read it online through the Kindle app on my iPad. It was cool to read it digitally, but I like printed books better.

Young Mazie was sad, because she couldn’t play outside, eat a cookie, or stay up late. Mazie was tired of  her parents telling her  “no” to everything she wanted. Then, she learned her great-great-great-grandpa Mose heard the word “no” even more – because he was enslaved, working until he was “bone tired”. But in 1865, he was finally freed, and he and everyone else danced and sang all night, they were that happy. Now, it’s Mazie’s turn to celebrate freedom, liberty, and justice on Juneteenth.

In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Abraham Lincoln. But, some people who were enslaved in Texas never knew this until 1865! So, basically, they were doing free labor AGAINST THE LAW! The reason, though, is because there weren’t enough Union soldiers to spread the news. And, some slave owners didn’t want to do work themselves (#lazy🙄), so they didn’t tell the people who were enslaved that they were free!

I reviewed another book about Juneteenth on my blog a couple years ago.  I really enjoyed reading that one and learning more about the history! But, I also enjoyed Juneteenth For Mazie. One, I liked that the illustrations were really realistic, and really, really, vibrant. Two, I liked how the author wrote about this important part of history that I never learned about in Social Studies.

I think I would recommend this book to readers five and up. And, I think it’s so important for parents to have Juneteenth For Mazie in their home library, and for teachers to have it at school. This was such an important landmark in time that some children never learn about.

I really loved this book. I rate it four out of four roses!