A tribute to the brave example of the Loving family describes how they were arrested in mid-20th-century Virginia for violating laws against interracial marriage and argued their case all the way to the Supreme Court, prompting a landmark civil rights triumph. - (Baker & Taylor)

A tribute to the example of the Loving family describes how they were arrested in mid-twentieth-century Virginia for violating laws against interracial marriage and argued their case all the way to the Supreme Court, prompting a landmark civil rights triumph. - (Baker & Taylor)

"I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about." -- Mildred Loving, June 12, 2007

Sean Qualls finds inspiration everywhere, from old buildings, nature, fairy tales, black memorabilia, and outsider art to cave paintings, African imagery, mythology, music, and his native Brooklyn. He is the co-illustrator, with his wife, Selina Alko, of the celebrated picture books Two Friends by Dean Robbins and The Case for Loving by Selina Alko. Other acclaimed picture books he has illustrated include Giant Steps to Change the World by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Little Cloud and Lady Wind by Toni Morrison and her son Slade, Dizzy by Jonah Winter, and Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford, for which he received a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family. Visit him online at seanqualls.com.
Selina Alko has always been curious about different people and cultures, which stems, in part, from growing up with a Canadian mother and a Turkish father, who spoke seven languages and taught her to paint. Her art brims with optimism, experimentation, and a deep commitment to multiculturalism and human rights. She is the author of The Case for Loving, which she illustrated with her husband, Sean Qualls, and the co-illustrator, also with Sean, of Two Friends by Dean Robbins. She has written and illustrated several other acclaimed picture books, including Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama and B Is for Brooklyn. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family. Learn more at selinaalko.com. - (Scholastic)

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Many children's books tackle landmark events in U.S. history, but this one is an especially needed addition. The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, the interracial couple whose fight for the right to be married led to the Supreme Court's ruling that ended anti-miscegenation laws, is relayed here as a love story that does not sugarcoat the virulent racism of the time. After traveling just beyond their Virginia home to wed in nearby D.C., the couple's return was greeted by a home raid, arrest, and a declaration that their love was "unlawful." After a long court struggle, however, the Lovings were "free at last" to live "happily (and legally) ever after." Familiar expressions such as these are cleverly inserted through the narrative, drawing attention to everyday language that was not so ordinary for the Lovings. Gentle painted background scenes are overlaid with bright collages of flowers, birds, and hearts, lending a playfulness to the otherwise sober story. An author's note grounds the Lovings' story in the present as Alko recognizes that her own interracial marriage is part of the trajectory of change, which continues today in the LGBTQ community's fight for equality. Inspirational, never heavy-handed, and appropriate for just about everyone. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Richard Loving (white) and Mildred Jeter (black) fell in love and married, then were arrested for miscegenation. Their 1967 Supreme Court case legalized interracial marriage. Alko does a mostly admirable job of shaping the story (some terms are hazy) and the legal proceedings for a young audience. The book's optimistic message and tone are reinforced by mixed-media illustrations by Alko and Qualls (themselves partners in an interracial marriage). Reading list. Bib.

Horn Book Magazine Reviews

The 1967 Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage throughout the country is here given a picture-book accounting. Richard Loving was white, Mildred Jeter's skin was a "creamy caramel"; despite their different racial backgrounds, they fell in love and married, only to be arrested for miscegenation when they returned to their Virginia hometown after the wedding. It's a story about adults and with potentially much legalese, but Alko does a mostly admirable job of shaping the love story and the legal proceedings for a young audience. There is, however, a haziness about skin color and racial identity throughout the book that can be unclear, with lyrical references to "people of every shade" bumping confusingly with "colored," and "black"; meanwhile, the term "interracial marriage" is used but not defined. While the book is honest about the obstacles the Lovings faced, its message and tone are optimistic, the feel-good atmosphere reinforced by the pencil, paint, and collage illustrations by Alko and Qualls (themselves partners in an interracial marriage). With soft, worn shades providing a gently old-timey aura, even a scene like the police busting in on the sleeping couple is sufficiently dramatic without being frightening. Frequent festoons of hearts and flowers, nice but overly decorative, help, too. Sources and a suggested reading list are appended. roger sutto Copyright 2014 Horn Book Magazine.

Kirkus Reviews

Biography and autobiography intertwine in this account of the landmark case of Loving v. Virginia. Richard Loving, pale-skinned and vulnerable to sunburn, and Mildred Jeter, a brown-skinned woman of African-American and Cherokee descent, fell in love in 1958. But in the state of Virginia, miscegenation was illegal and punishable by imprisonment. They traveled to Washington, D.C., to marry legally, but when they returned and moved in together, the local police arrested and jailed them. This story makes palatable for young readers a painful, personal and true story of the injustices interracial couples suffered as recently as 60 years ago. Alko and Qualls reveal the double-layered nature of this story with a photograph of themselves; this was the perfect story for a collaboration since their journey echoes the Lovings'. In the backmatter, Alko cites the current statistics on gay marriage and hopes that "there will soon come a time when all people who love each other have the s ame rights as Sean and I have." The "Suggestions for Further Reading" mentions both earlier books in the same tradition, such as Arnold Adoff and Emily Arnold McCully's Black is Brown is Tan (1973, 2002), and contemporary ones that detail other civil rights struggles. Despite the gentle way this book unfolds, the language and images deal a blow to racist thinking and just might inspire the next generation of young civil rights activists. (artists' note, sources) (Informational picture book. 4-9) Copyright Kirkus 2014 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

In their first picture book together, the husband-and-wife team of Alko (B Is for Brooklyn) and Qualls (Freedom Song) skillfully chronicle a vital moment in the civil rights movement, telling the story of Richard and Mildred Loving. Because interracial marriage was illegal in their native Virginia in 1958, the couple married in Washington, D.C.; after returning to Virginia, they were jailed for "unlawful cohabitation." The Lovings settled in D.C. and had three children before returning to Virginia in 1966, when "Brand-new ideas, like equal rights for people of all colors, were replacing old, fearful ways of thinking. Alko adeptly streamlines the legal logistics of the Lovings' groundbreaking Supreme Court case, which found prohibitions on interracial marriage to be unconstitutional, emphasizing the ethical and emotional aspects of the story. Hearts, stars, flowers, and facsimile family photos dot the warm mixed-media illustrations, visually underscoring the love that kept the Lovings' union strong. An author's note provides added context (including the contributors' closeness to the subject, as an interracial couple themselves), while drawing parallels to ongoing efforts to legalize same-sex marriage. Ages 4–8. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Jan.)

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 1–5—This debut picture book by husband and wife team Alko and Qualls gives the story of Mildred and Richard Loving its due. The couple first met and fell in love in Jim Crow Cedar Point, VA, in 1958, but because Richard was white and Mildred was African American and Cherokee, they were not permitted to marry under Virginia law. The pair did contract nuptials in Washington, DC and eventually had several children, but they weren't content to leave the discriminatory law uncontested. In legal proceedings that led to a Supreme Court case, their union was finally upheld as constitutional. The charming and cheerful mixed media illustrations are done in gouache and acrylic paint with collage and colored pencil, a perfect marriage of Alko and Qualls's art styles. While the text is uninspired in moments, it shines with a message that is universal: "They won the right to their love. They were free at last." Back matter includes an author and artist's note explaining the importance of this topic. A much-needed work on a historical court case that made the ultimate difference on mixed race families that will resonate with contemporary civil rights battles. Put it on the shelves next to Duncan Tonatiuh's Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation (Abrams, 2014) and Joyce Carol Thomas's Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: The Brown v. Board of Education Decision (Hyperion, 2003).—Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal