Over the last year or so I heard about the potential for using picture books with high school students. I heard the clamor: "They have a place!" But no one could tell me why. Or more importantly: how? This all changed with Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson's The Undefeated which was on the long list for the National Book Award for Young Adult Literature 2019. For those who haven't read it, the text is describe as "a love letter to America. To black America. To the grit, passion, and perseverance of our greatest artists, athletes, and activists." After reading it, I knew when I started my #OwnVoices unit with my Freshmen, we were going to start use picture books. Intention: The most important part of choosing a picture book is intention. What do you want students to learn? What do picture books do that regular contemporary, classic and YA texts cannot do? For me, I used two texts, the aforementioned The Undefeated and Thorn and Grigni's It Feels ...