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NOW LET ME FLY by Dolores Johnson

NOW LET ME FLY

The Story of a Slave Family

by Dolores Johnson & illustrated by Dolores Johnson

Pub Date: Oct. 29th, 1993
ISBN: 0-02-747699-5
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Minna narrates her kidnapping by slave traders as a child in Africa and the rough passage to America. Under the cruel conditions on board ship, she meets Amadi, with whom she is sold to a plantation owner. They marry and have four children before Amadi is sold; two ``steal away'' to freedom in the years before ratification of the 13th Amendment. Johnson neither spares grim details nor harps on them, achieving subtlety through careful phrasing (a reference to those who ``survived'' the ship's passage is a quiet reminder of those who did not). Her vivid paintings blend generalized impressionistic backgrounds with realistic foregrounds; faces seem to flicker with an array of universal emotions. Some facts are filtered through a modern sensibility (e.g., Minna says she was sold for ``less than one hundred dollars,'' implying that was a small amount), but nonetheless, a compelling, elegantly composed narrative. Excellent author's note. (Picture book. 5-9)