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Cover of How the Word Is Passed (Adapted for Young Readers)

How the Word Is Passed (Adapted for Young Readers)

Remembering Slavery and How It Shaped America

Clint Smith

Ages 10–16 NYT Best Seller

Readers rate it 5.0 (1 on Hardcover)

Released Sep 2, 2025

Content report card

What's inside

High confidence

Language

Sexual content

LGBTQ+ themes

Substance use

What it offers

A note for parents

This adaptation of Clint Smith's acclaimed nonfiction work introduces young readers to the history and ongoing legacy of slavery in America through visits to historical sites and monuments. The book handles this difficult subject matter with age-appropriate care while being honest about the brutality of slavery and systemic racism. It emphasizes understanding, memory, and empowerment rather than graphic depiction, making it suitable for mature elementary and middle-grade readers ready to engage with serious history.

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From the publisher

Adapted from Clint Smith's #1 New York Times bestselling and universally acclaimed How the Word Is Passed, this must-read narrative takes readers to historical sites across America, exploring the legacy of slavery to help readers make sense of our nation's past and present, and be better stewards of their own future. B... Adapted from Clint Smith's #1 New York Times bestselling and universally acclaimed How the Word Is Passed, this must-read narrative takes readers to historical sites across America, exploring the legacy of slavery to help readers make sense of our nation's past and present, and be better stewards of their own future. Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads young readers through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks--those that are honest about the past and those that are not--offering an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves. How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country's most essential stories are hidden in plain view--whether in places we might drive by on our way to school, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods (like downtown Manhattan) on which the brutal history of the trade in enslaved people has been deeply imprinted. Informed by scholarship and brought alive by the story of people living today, this adaptation of Clint Smith's #1 bestselling, award-winning work of nonfiction offers kids a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country, and shows how they can reckon with the past and present to become better stewards of their future.

Shelved under

  • Juvenile Nonfiction
  • War
  • Young Adult

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ISBN 9780316578509