In The Walk, a child and her grandmother put on their jackets and hats and leave their house.
They stop at home, stores, and even the barbershop 鈥� smushing their faces up against glass windows, knocking on doors, inviting friends and neighbors to join them on their walk. The group is made up of young and old 鈥� one woman with a walker, kids holding hands. The procession grows and grows as they reach their destination: the polls. It鈥檚 time to vote.
鈥淭he message is clear,鈥� says author Winsome Bingham, about her 2023 children鈥檚 book. 鈥淲e're stronger together. That鈥檚 the message.鈥�
Bingham grew up in a tight-knit community where she says the whole neighborhood went to the polls together to vote. 鈥淪chool is out. And the kids in the street,鈥� she remembers. 鈥淚 did not realize how important and central that was to my life.鈥�
The Walk is illustrated by E. B. Lewis. 鈥淎ll those scenes that you see in the book are real,鈥� he explains. To illustrate it, Lewis first created thumbnail sketches 鈥� then he traveled to Huntsville, Ala. 鈥淭his little town got together this procession for me,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he cops actually stopped traffic.鈥� Lewis essentially directed a live-action version of the picture book 鈥� while using his phone to film and photograph the scenes, which he later turned into watercolor paintings.
鈥淲e went to a barbershop and all the people in the barbershop at that particular time, they actually were part of the book,鈥� Lewis remembers. 鈥淎nd what I did to pay them 鈥� everybody got a free haircut on me,鈥� he laughs. 鈥淪o it was fun.鈥�
Unlike Winsome Bingham, E. B. Lewis didn鈥檛 grow up in a household where voting was a big event. 鈥淢y parents went and it was a secret, almost,鈥� he says. As a result, he didn鈥檛 vote until he was in his late 20s. 鈥淭hat's the importance of this book,鈥� he says. 鈥淕etting kids to understand what鈥� democracy looks like.鈥� Kids don鈥檛 do what we say, he points out, they do what we do.
Bingham and Lewis hope The Walk helps parents, grandparents, babysitters, friends, caregivers 鈥� anyone 鈥� talk to kids about voting and about civic duty. No one in The Walk will tell you who they鈥檙e voting for 鈥� there鈥檚 no preaching, and there are both red flags and blue flags around the town. As Bingham said, the message is clear.
鈥淲e think about voting and we individualize it so much,鈥� says Bingham. 鈥淏ut at the end of the day, one person doesn't elect [the] mayor or school board member or city council or the president. We need a collective community to make that happen, to make that work.鈥�
As the grandmother tells her granddaughter in the book, 鈥淟eaders are not born, they are made through molding and modeling.鈥�
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