Our democracy asks that every citizen has the right to life.  That means that a child can go to school and not be worried about being murdered. Or you can go jogging and not be afraid of getting shot … or step into a local store, pay with a twenty dollar bill and not have someone call 911.

This picture-book tribute to George Floyd is eloquent and powerful in its simplicity.  The words flow like a song:

“He was a father, a brother, a son, a hip-hop artist, a football and basketball player, and a friend.  He was also my neighbor …”

In this picture book, We Miss You, George Floyd, written by Shannon Gibney and illustrated by Leeya Rose Jackson, we hear the voice of a young person trying to understand how someone who was her neighbor, someone who made people laugh with his funny dancing, someone who called out to his mother as he was dying, how someone innocent of any crime, how could that person be murdered by police?

Shannon and Leeya have combined their words and images to create a book so we as readers will ask this same question, why?  And then how can we protect the right of every person, every child, to “life and liberty” without the fear of being murdered on the street while jogging, in one’s home while sleeping, or at one’s school while learning how to read?

This picture book, We Miss You, George Floyd, invites us to pause, to question and to participate, however we are able, in the fight for justice.

We Miss You, George Floyd
written by Shannon Gibney
illustrated by Leeya Rose Jackson
University of Minnesota Press, Nov 2024
Suggested for ages 6 and up
ISBN 978-1-5179-1444-8