Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book

Ages 4 to 8, Grades P to 3

For fans of Hidden Figures comes a nonfiction picture book about the Green Book, a travel guide written and published by a Black postal worker from Harlem who wanted African Americans to stay safe while traveling around the United States during segregation.

Award-winning author Tonya Bolden and acclaimed illustrator Eric Velasquez shine a light on this lesser-known history of Victor Hugo Green and the deep impact of his incredible book on generations of Black families in America.As a mail carrier, Victor Hugo Green traveled across New Jersey every day. But with Jim Crow laws enforcing segregation since the late 1800s, traveling as a Black person in the US could be stressful, even dangerous.So in the 1930s, Victor created a guide—The Negro Motorist Green-Book, also known as the Green Book—compiling all the information he could find to help Black travelers know where to go and what places to avoid in order to have a pleasant and safe time. While the Green Book started out small, over the years it became an expansive, invaluable resource for Black people throughout the country—all in the hopes that one day such a guide would no longer be needed.

About the Author

Tonya Bolden’s work has been recognized with the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children and the Carter G. Woodson Book Award as well as listed as a CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. She is the recipient of the Nonfiction Award from the Children’s Book Guild of Washington, DC, for her body of work. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl was a Coretta Scott King Author Honor book. She lives in the Bronx, NY. Visit her at www.tonyaboldenbooks.com.Eric Velasquez has illustrated numerous children’s books, most recently She Was the First!, which won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature. He won the Pura Belpré Award for his illustrations in Grandma’s Gift and the Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe New Talent Award for his illustrations in The Piano Man by Debbi Chocolate. Eric lives in Hartsdale, NY. Visit him online at www.ericvelasquez.com.