Setting his story during a time when antislavery sentiment was gaining momentum, Sanders (Here Comes the Mystery Man, 1993, etc.) tells the story of a Tennessee family of freed slaves who make their way north to begin a new life in Indiana. James Starman narrates this metaphor-studded tale of a lesser-known side of frontier settlement. His family follows the drinking gourd for more than a month of nights as the ``buttery bowl of the moon filled up then emptied again.'' A kind fisherman with a ``face as wrinkled as an old boot'' carries them across the Ohio to the free soil of Indiana. A Quaker gift of seed and a borrowed mule and plow enable them to work the land, eventually drawing family and friends from the South to form a new community they call Freedom. Inspired by the true story of Lyles Station, Indiana, Sanders sketches with broad strokes a fictionalized portrait of another kind of struggle for freedom. Allen's trademark pastels are rendered in predominant smoky blues that provide powerful keyhole glimpses of family and farm set starkly against white canvas, accentuating the austerity of the days of frontier homesteading. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-689-80470-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1997
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Keena Ford’s second-grade class is taking a field trip to the United States Capitol. This good-hearted girl works hard to behave, but her impulsive decisions have a way of backfiring, no matter how hard she tries to do the right thing. In this second book in a series, Keena cuts off one of her braids and later causes a congressman to fall down the stairs. The first-person journal format is a stretch—most second graders can barely write, let alone tell every detail of three days of her life. Children will wonder how Keena can cut one of her “two thick braids” all the way off by pretend-snipping in the air. They will be further confused because the cover art clearly shows Keena with a completely different hairdo on the field trip than the one described. Though a strong African-American heroine is most welcome in chapter books and Keena and her family are likable and realistic, this series needs more polish before Keena writes about her next month in school. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3264-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2009
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