The peach pit parade A World War I story

When Polly's father goes to fight in WWI, the African American child wonders what she can do to help. After Polly's teacher tells the class about chemical warfare and the need for peach pits to make charcoal filters for gas masks, Polly has the idea to organize a parade among her Black-presenting community to collect peach pits for the troops, and the result is a success. Bookended by historical photos of pit mounds, Lucas's largely domestic illustrations include a basic gas mask graphic. Their age-appropriate realism echoes Keller's matter-of-fact storytelling, which balances Polly's fictional experiences with historical facts. Info about the science behind charcoal gas masks, an author's note about segregation, and the story's basis in history help make this a unique introduction to the Great War and related scarcity measures. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 7--8. (Apr.)

Polly, a young African American girl, finds a way to help her soldier father during World War I. Readers may be familiar with scrap-metal campaigns and victory gardens as efforts to improve the health and well-being of military troops, but, as the astonishing archival photographs on the endpapers to this charming picture book make clear, the Allied Forces of World War I also needed peach pits--millions of them. When burned, peach pits produced the charcoal used as filters in soldiers' gas masks, protecting them against poison gas on battlefields. In portraying America's nationwide campaign to collect peach pits, Keller centers the story on Polly, who is desperate to do something to help her father overseas. She organizes her Girl Scout troop into a parade to collect peach pits. Lucas' bright illustrations depict loving middle-class Black families, a Black Scout troop, and a mostly Black community all eager to do their patriotic best for their country. While children of all races can imagine themselves taking on a similar role, Black children will see themselves as important agents of history. Race is not a focus of the text; it is only discussed in the author's note, which reveals that the Girl Scouts had Black members and troops by 1919; Keller fails to mention that the organization was racially segregated up until the 1950s, which is a missed opportunity to provide accurate context. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Understated and lovely. (Historical fiction/picture book. 4-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.