Illustrated by Laura Freeman

On Sale: Jan 5, 2027
Page Count: 40 pages
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
ISBN-13: 9780316579186

$18.99

$24.99 CAD

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Hardcover $18.99 $24.99 CAD
Audiobook Download (Unabridged) $14.99

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Celebrate the creator of the world’s first Black Barbie in this inspiring story about Kitty Black Perkins, the visionary toy designer who helped define the course of Barbie’s history.

Ever since she was little, Kitty Black Perkins loved making clothes for dolls. She’d cut the materials using paper, creating outfits and accessories from a rainbow of colors and patterns. So when she saw an ad to work for Mattel designing clothes for Barbie, she jumped at the opportunity. But it never felt right to Kitty that all the dolls had the same skin tone, and she wished there was a Barbie that looked like her and her family and neighbors back home in South Carolina.

This inspiring true story celebrates the life of Kitty Black Perkins, whose creativity and confidence led to the production, manufacturing, and marketing of the first Black Barbie doll. It’s a radiant portrait of the woman who dared to see herself in Barbie, allowing children to do the same.

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Dinah Johnson is the award-winning author of many books for young readers, including Ida B. Wells Marches for the Vote, illustrated by Jerry Jordan, and H Is for Harlem, illustrated by April Harrison, which was named a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book, a Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and a Horn Book Fanfare selection. A professor of literature at the University of South Carolina, she lives in Columbia and invites you to visit her at dinahjohnsonbooks.com.

Laura Freeman is the acclaimed illustrator of the New York Times bestseller Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race, which received a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children. She has illustrated over thirty books for young readers. A native New Yorker residing in Atlanta with her family, she invites you to visit her website: lfreemanart.com.

Dinah Johnson

About the Author

Dinah Johnson is the award-winning author of many books for young readers including Ida B. Wells Marches for the Vote (W24) and H Is for Harlem, illustrated by April Harrison, which received five starred reviews, was named a Boston-Globe Horn Book Honor Book, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and a Horn Book Fanfare title. A professor of English at the University of South Carolina, she lives in Columbia. She invites you to visit her at dinahjohnsonbooks.com.

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Laura Freeman

About the Illustrator

Laura Freeman is a creative and award-winning illustrator with extensive experience in children’s publishing, editorial design, licensing, and fashion. In addition to being a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honoree, her work on Hidden Figures written by Margot Lee Shetterly, was recognized with an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children. It reached the New York Times Best Seller list and was listed in “Ten Books All Georgians Should Read.” Her art has been honored at the Society of Illustrators in NYC and in the Annuals for Communication Arts and American Illustration. She received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts and currently lives in Atlanta.

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