Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book

Bolden recounts the moving story of mail carrier Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960), originator of the Green Book—a guide used by Black travelers to navigate Jim Crow–era America, where “these travelers... could face hassles, humiliations, hardships. Even bodily harm.” As infrastructure creation and vehicle affordability led to an increase in car ownership, Green—“the problem-solving type”—was determined to help Black people travel across the hostile nation. Aware of the utility of word-of-mouth recommendations, “He grabbed goo-gobs of information. He pored over newspaper ads and articles” to create the volume, which grew from a small, New York City–centered pamphlet in 1936 to a book whose wide-ranging recommendations spanned to Canada and Mexico. Working images of paper ephemera into the pages, Velasquez melds portraiture and background illustration, producing a visually engaging account of history in the making. Back matter includes notes and selected sources. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)