And She Was Loved

Feb 5
2 min read

Toni Morrison's Life in Stories

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Illustrated book cover of "And She Was Loved" features a young girl with a pencil in her hair, set against a blue and purple abstract background.

Little, Brown Books for Readers

(pub. 1.7.2025)

48 pages

Ages 4 - 8

Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney

Illustrator: Daniel Minter

Character: Toni Morrison

Overview:

" From imaginative child to visionary storyteller, Toni Morrison was a fiercely inspiring writer that helped change the world. This poetic picture book is part love letter and part biography, praising the power of this Nobel Prize winner. With its tender refrain, readers will know how much Morrison's stories -- and their own -- mean to the world. She was loved -- and so are they!"

Tantalizing taste:

"Oh, Toni Morrison, do you feel it?

Your love has lifted us to places untouched.

You, born with a roar for stories that speak.

Your word-brush struck truth from the darkest soil.

Filled with seeds of possibility.

You, storyteller. Griot. Novelist.

Weaving tales drawn with dignity.

Beautiful roots springing from your tip's swirl.

You - a girl whose highest power began

with a stick of chalk, gripped in nimble fingers."

And something more: Andrea Davis Pinkney explains in How This Poem Came to Be: "And She Was Loved is drawn from a declaration made in Ms. Morrison's Song of Solomon. When Pilate, one of the novel's central characters, calls out, "And she was loved!" she's railing against a society that allows hatred of Black people to persist. At the same time, Pilates is pronouncing love's infinite power; thus, the echoed refrain that is whispered throughout this book's narrative – And she was loved… And she was loved… – is symbolic of Ms.Morrison's body of work."