Thank you to the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books for reviewing Postcards From Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Human Rights Activist by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Keith Henry Brown, and published by Red Comet Press.
Wenjen, Mia Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Civil Rights Activist; illus. by Keith Henry Brown. R 6-8 yrs [42p] • Red Comet, 2026 • ISBN 9781636550893
In this picture book biography, the adult life of Yuri Kochiyama is examined, with a particular focus on her communications with Malcolm X. Born in the 1920s, Yuri endured a Japanese American internment during World War II and witnessed many other discriminatory practices that kept most people (including later her Black and Puerto Rican neighbors in Harlem) oppressed, experiences that informed her activism and community building. A quick encounter with Malcolm X at a courthouse in 1963 led to an acquaintanceship built around mutual respect, carried out primarily through letters and postcards. After his death, she became close with his family, and she continued to fight as an organizer and collaborator, quiet and mostly behind the scenes, but fiercely dedicated to furthering his message and goals. Kochiyama is perhaps most known for being the woman who cradled Malcolm’s head as he died; this biography offers a powerful and necessary reframing of who she was before and after her friendship with Malcolm X, and how she was a lifelong change-maker with a generous heart. The watercolor illustrations, fluid and evocative of the narrative’s snapshot approach of building a life from key moments, fill most of every page, as detailed backgrounds add context to the foregrounded people and events. Illustrator Brown echoes the variance in activism styles: Malcolm X is regal, commanding space on the page and immediately drawing the eye, while Kochiyama is steadily present, shown tirelessly writing letters and showing up for people as a smaller but warm, persistent visual highlight throughout. Wenjen celebrates Kochiyama’s impact on civil rights activism, offering room for listeners who may shudder at the idea of boldly taking charge, preferring instead to make steady, meaningful impacts that are perhaps less noticed, but no less effective. Significant endmatter includes a timeline, glossary, bibliography, and contributors’ notes. [End Page 59]
Copyright © 2026 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
p.s. Related posts:
School Library Journal reviews POSTCARDS FROM MALCOLM X
Postcards from Malcolm X Unboxing!
Postcards from Malcolm X picture book trailer!
Book Announcement! Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Civil Rights Activist
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