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Parker Looks Up
An Extraordinary Moment
Table of Contents
About The Book
A visit to Washington, DC’s National Portrait Gallery forever alters Parker Curry’s young life when she views First Lady Michelle Obama’s portrait.
When Parker Curry came face-to-face with Amy Sherald’s transcendent portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery, she didn’t just see the First Lady of the United States. She saw a queen—one with dynamic self-assurance, regality, beauty, and truth who captured this young girl’s imagination. When a nearby museum-goer snapped a photo of a mesmerized Parker, it became an internet sensation. Inspired by this visit, Parker, and her mother, Jessica Curry, tell the story of a young girl and her family, whose trip to a museum becomes an extraordinary moment, in a moving picture book.
Parker Looks Up follows Parker, along with her baby sister and her mother, and her best friend Gia and Gia’s mother, as they walk the halls of a museum, seeing paintings of everyone and everything from George Washington Carver to Frida Kahlo, exotic flowers to graceful ballerinas. Then, Parker walks by Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama…and almost passes it. But she stops...and looks up!
Parker saw the possibility and promise, the hopes and dreams of herself in this powerful painting of Michelle Obama. An everyday moment became an extraordinary one…that continues to resonate its power, inspiration, and indelible impact. Because, as Jessica Curry said, “anything is possible regardless of race, class, or gender.”
**FOREWORD BY ARTIST AMY SHERALD**
About The Illustrator
Brittany (Bea) Jackson, the New York Times bestselling and award-winning illustrator of Parker Looks Up and Parker Shines On, attended the College for Creative Studies and was a grand prize winner of the L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future Award. In addition to her work as a children’s book artist and a character and concept artist, Bea’s art has been featured on books and comic covers as well as in various magazines. In 2021, Target launched Wondershop, a Christmas-themed collection, which included Bea’s art on gift bags, gift boxes, and wrapping paper. She lives in Detroit, Michigan.
Product Details
- Publisher: Aladdin (October 15, 2019)
- Length: 40 pages
- ISBN13: 9781534451872
- Grades: P - 3
- Ages: 4 - 8
- Lexile ® AD650L The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®
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Awards and Honors
- California Young Reader Medal Nominee
- Gallery Award Nominee (TX)
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Parker Looks Up Fixed Layout eBook 9781534451872
- Author Photo (jpg): Parker Curry Photograph by Jessica Curry(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
- Author Photo (jpg): Jessica Curry Photograph © Christa Houser, CALH Photography(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit