Author Valerie Bollingʻs pic­ture books are always great choic­es for kids. Her col­or­ful, lyri­cal ear­ly read­ers and pic­ture books focus on the sim­ple joys and tri­umphs of childhood.

Her first non-fic­tion pic­ture book is a col­lec­tion of bio­graph­i­cal sketch­es, I See Col­or: An Affir­ma­tion and Cel­e­bra­tion of Our Diverse World. Fea­tured are lead­ers, many lit­tle-known to today’s kids, who have made pro­found impacts on the world. The col­lec­tion’s short, engag­ing for­mat makes it the per­fect intro­duc­tion of short biogra­phies to children.

I am delight­ed that our own Native Hawai­ian activist and schol­ar, the late Dr. Hau­nani-Kay Trask, is one of the fea­tured unsung heroes! Hau­nani is pre­sent­ed in a love­ly a two-page spread: a con­cise yet thought­ful pas­sage high­light­ing her key con­tri­bu­tions accom­pa­nied by a beau­ti­ful illustration.