Glow Power, by Jacqueline Lopez and Joy Peyton, follows Jake, a boy who gets trapped in an elevator, transforms into a Cardinal Avatar, and travels back to 1921 Tulsa, where he witnesses the beauty of Greenwood before the Tulsa Race Massacre and then the terror of its destruction. Through his bond with Teyanna and the other Dunbar children, Jake learns that history is not just something to study for school, but something to feel, grieve, honor, and carry forward through love, justice, and daily acts of healing.

I found this book brave in both its ambition and its tenderness. It takes on an enormously painful part of American history, but it doesn’t begin with tragedy. It first lets children see Greenwood as alive, intelligent, joyful, and full of promise. That choice mattered to me. The writing can be breathless and emotionally packed, but there’s a childlike urgency to it that fits Jake’s experience. I could feel his confusion, his wonder, his nausea, his hope. The story doesn’t always move quietly, but it does move with a big, open heart.

The artwork gives the book a vivid, animated energy that children will connect with right away. Jake’s cardinal form is bright and expressive, and Teyanna’s glow brings a softness that balances the darker moments. I especially appreciated the contrast between the warm, playful scenes of friendship and planting seeds and the later images of smoke, fear, and loss. The ideas are powerful, sometimes overwhelming: forgiveness, anti-racism, memory, activism, and the belief that children can become “guardians” of a more loving world. The strongest parts were often the simplest ones: children reading, playing, touching Jake’s wings, planting together, and being allowed to matter.

I came away moved by the book’s sincerity and its insistence that children deserve honest stories about history, not softened ones that leave out pain. Glow Power is a heartfelt, imaginative, and deeply purposeful picture book that would be is best for suited to older elementary readers, especially when read with a parent, teacher, or caregiver nearby to talk through the Tulsa Race Massacre, racism, grief, and healing. It’s a good fit for families and classrooms ready for a serious, compassionate conversation about history, empathy, and what it means to choose love with courage.

Pages: 63