An enriching picture of a hymn that has touched hearts over centuries and across the world.
In rhyming verse, Weatherford depicts the origin and longevity of the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
John Newton, a passenger aboard the slave ship Greyhound, is “brawling, swearing.” A storm rages; John fears for his life and “relives his past.” He learned hymns and Bible study from his mother as a young child, then left religion behind after his mother died when he was 7 and went to sea with his father. He became a “scoundrel, rascal, picking fights.” Aboard the Greyhound, John prays, “Lord, just let me see the dawn.” Finally they reach England, and grateful John “is reborn.” He captains a ship and marries, and when he retires, he “preaches to end slavery.” In this new life, he writes the well-known opening stanza of “Amazing Grace.” The “lyrics sail across the sea,” where they are adapted and sung by enslaved people in the Americas, Cherokees forced along the Trail of Tears, Civil War soldiers, Mahalia Jackson, and finally Barack Obama. The illustrations are dramatic oil paintings that successfully evoke gravity, sorrow, and religiosity. The lyrical text presents a mature story in spare verse, so younger readers may need to hear it several times, or have parts explained to them, in order for the meaning to sink in. Exposure to the story, however, needn’t wait.
An enriching picture of a hymn that has touched hearts over centuries and across the world. (author’s note, further reading, listening, and viewing) (Informational picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7206-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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