WE MISS YOU GEORGE FLOYD event at MLX with Shannon Gibney and Junauda Petrus
November 21 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm CST
Shannon Gibney will join Modus Locus Expansion on November 21, 2024, for a reading and discussion of her new book We Miss You George Floyd, at 6:00 p.m. CST, in conversation with Junauda Petrus. Following the discussion will be a signing, with books available for purchase.
This event is free and open to the public.
For children working through George Floyd’s murder and the police violence plaguing our country, and for the grown-ups trying to help them, this book is an invitation to open difficult conversations. With striking illustrations reflecting Floyd’s world and a child’s perspective, Shannon Gibney’s clear-eyed account offers healing and inspiration for the strength and solidarity we need to build a more peaceful and just future.
“As the illustrations signal the broader national context […] our narrator channels her grief into art, first to pay homage to those who have been killed by police, and then to imagine a better future. Readers witness the journey of a child learning to navigate her own sadness and be part of a community while just beginning to see and understand a bigger picture. This honest and stunningly accessible perspective on a pivotal moment in recent American history will speak directly to children in a wide range of ages while also resonating with adults.” —Booklist
“In We Miss You, George Floyd, Shannon Gibney and Leeya Rose Jackson engage the topic of police brutality in a clear, accessible, and ultimately hopeful way. It is a heartening call for young readers to speak up and stay involved in the ongoing fight for justice and a moving cry for society to actively do and be better for the sake of our kids.” —Tameka Fryer Brown, award-winning author of That Flag and Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change
“Gibney writes in simple, straightforward, and age-appropriate language[…] The illustrations, dominated by hues of purple, capture the cacophony of emotions that emerged in the aftermath of Floyd’s death. […] Heavy yet cathartic. We will not forget.” —Kirkus Reviews
