At the time, nine-year-old Judeah Reynolds, only wanted to buy candy, but she didn’t know that her walk to the store with her cousin, Darnella Frazier, would put the girls at the center of history. If it were not for Reynolds’ video on May 25, 2020, the murder of George Floyd would have never been brought to justice.
The 11-year-old writer released, “A Walk to the Store,”on October 14, 2022. The date marks what would have been Floyd’s 49th birthday.
According to the book’s official website, “A Walk to the Store” depicts the death of Floyd from Judeah’s perspective.
When nine-year-old Judeah Reynolds walked to the store to buy candy one day, she saw a man named George Floyd get killed by the police. Judeah was very scared and sad. She talked to her family about what happened, and that helped. She talked about it to other people, too. Judeah learned that even though bad things happen, there are many good people in the world who want to make things better. She learned that she is one of those people, and she can make things better by sharing her story.
The book is written by Judeah Reynolds, as told to Emmy-Award winning comedian, radio host, and entrepreneur, Sheletta Brundidge and publisher Lily Coyle. The project is illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers.
“This book is all about a movement,” Brundidge told CBS in a recent interview. “It’s not about the sadness she experienced, or the tragedy, but how she turned that into triumph. She took a walk. She walked to the store, she walked away from the store. She is walking into her destiny, and her purpose.”
Coyle, in her own interview with CNN said, “I don’t want to put a children’s book out in the world that hurts children or makes life harder for people. It needs to be a tool for healing, and we want to bring grace to this horrible situation.”
To help accomplish this goal, the book also includes worksheets with exercises provided by Aruba Emotional Health Services to help children process traumatic events.
At the end of the book, Judeah says, “I’m too little to walk alone to the store. But I’m big enough and brave enough to make things better in a very BIG way.”
We couldn’t agree more. She has just set the bar higher for us all.
