Exploring the legacies of Black Americans is an essential aspect of National Book Award–winning author and scholar Imani Perry’s work. Now, Perry turns her knack for bringing that history alive to a middle grade audience in her debut work of children’s nonfiction, Hope in a Classroom: The Remarkable Story of Black American Students, Teachers, and Schools from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, out from Norton Young Readers on January 12, 2027. The cover, illustrated by Janelle Washington, is seen here for the first time.

Perry has long viewed Black Americans’ struggle to develop schools following emancipation as an underappreciated foundation for the civil rights movement. “I have always believed that we ought to think more about the role of schools in that process,” she told PW. “My mother is a scholar of education, so I grew up hearing stories of these incredible institutions that created the kind of young people who could change the world, despite deep inequality and disenfranchisement.”

By highlighting the history of the Black struggle for schools and literacy, Perry saw an opportunity to inspire the current generation of students facing their own challenges. “In the midst of a season of book banning and retrenchment and, in some ways, an all-out effort to undo the gains of the civil rights movement, it seemed to me that it could be meaningful to give young people a sense of what made that movement that changed the country possible,” she said.

While writing for a younger audience presented some difficulties, Perry enjoyed the new challenge. “As an educator, I always say, 'The younger they are, the more skill it requires to teach them.' And I think that’s also true as a writer,” she said. “It demanded a great deal of me to try to tell a story that has characters who are compelling and that offers rich content with a kind of clarity required for young people.”

Washington—an experienced papercut artist and recipient of both a 2023 Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award—was drawn to the project because of her personal connections to the history the book showcases. Like Perry, Washington comes from a family of Black educators. She also appreciated that her native Richmond, Va., features prominently in the text. “I felt really connected to the manuscript,” she said.

The artist strived to convey a sense of hope on the cover. She developed the image of a bird taking flight as a symbol for the gradual process of Black educators creating schools to educate generations of Black students. “They are putting in all of this work to make something, and it finally becomes something beautiful, and then it goes off into the world,” Washington said. “That's how I felt reading the book.”

She began by highlighting words from Perry’s text and then explored those concepts by writing out corresponding descriptive words as a way to form a mental image she could sketch. “I do a lot of writing,” Washington said. “Words lead me to other words, which lead me to more visuals.”

She completed three sketches before the team at Norton decided on the image of the schoolhouse. Following her typical papercut process for the cover, Washington first created her sketch, resized it, placed it on top of a piece of black paper, and then cut out the negative space, which she finally filled in with colorful tissue paper. “I like that it gives it a stained glass feel,” she said.

In her initial conversations with Norton, the team had discussed using an archival photograph on the cover, but she’s happy they opted to go with Washington’s papercut artwork, which she said brings a more vivid sense of history to the present. “I think it’s a great pairing of image and text,” she said.

Ultimately, Perry is optimistic that this story of Black Americans building schools and educating their communities in defiance of segregation and discrimination can serve as an encouraging example of resilience. “I’m hoping that it’s a book that can connect with young people. I hope it’s history that feels enjoyable to read even though there are some really challenging topics in there. That’s what I was reaching for, because that’s what I would have wanted in middle school.”