Lyon has given today's readers a stirring story about yesterdays.
"Folk songs are alive," states Lyon in her author's note, and none is more so than "Which Side Are You On?"
The song, based on a hymn tune and lyrics, rose up from coal miners' strikes in Harlan County, Ky., in the 1930s. Narrated in the first person by a miner's son, this plainspoken account tells of the physical threat to the Reese family when their father is chased from town and the family comes under attack by Sheriff J.H. Blair's hired and armed thugs. Interspersed with the narration are the words of the song. Cardinale's digitally colored scratchboard art is dynamic and presents a visual reality that strengthens the history of the song and the people who sang it. The author's note adds a concise history of unions, laborers' demands for fair wages, safe conditions and an end of servitude to mine owners. Her explanation of the folk process is clear and shows how words and perceptions change over time. The book will be of great use in explaining U.S. labor history and development of workers' rights. Given that many of the same conditions exist today, only changed by mechanization, the music and lyrics included may well find use in the current generation.
Lyon has given today's readers a stirring story about yesterdays. (bibliography, websites) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-933693-96-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
Sir John A. Macdonald once envisioned what Gordon Lightfoot called “an iron road runnin’ from the sea to the sea”—the Canadian Pacific Railway, begun in 1885. In this dramatic, oversized tribute to the construction of that mighty railroad, both the lyrics of Lightfoot’s song “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” (1967) and Wallace’s dazzling chalk pastels powerfully illustrate the manifestation of that ambitious dream, emphasizing the ethnically diverse people who made it possible and those whose lives were forever changed by it: “We are the navvies who work upon the railway, / Swingin’ our hammers in the bright blazin’ sun. / Layin’ down track and buildin’ the bridges, / Bendin’ our backs ’til the railroad is done.” The atmospheric illustrations—each explained in wonderfully detailed endnotes—capture not only the workers’ toil but also the splendor of the Canadian landscape and, obliquely, the price the displaced First Nations people paid for steam-train technology. (music and lyrics, illustrator’s notes, a brief history of the Canadian Pacific Railway, further reading) (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-88899-953-5
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
Share with readers of all ages as a beautiful message about peaceful protest and purposeful action.
An African-American family awakens before dawn to prepare for the historic March on Washington in August, 1963.
In this stirring companion to Underground (2011), Evans captures a pivotal event in the struggle for equality and civil rights in America. The family joins neighbors to pray at their church, paint signs and travel by bus to Washington. They walk and sing and grow tired but “are filled with hope” as they stand together at the Washington Monument to listen to Dr. King speak of dreams and freedom. With just one line per page, Evans’ text is spare but forceful. The March has become synonymous with Dr. King’s grandiloquent speech, but Evans reminds readers that ordinary folk were his determined and courageous audience. The full-page paintings depict a rainbow of people holding hands and striding purposefully. One illustration in particular, of the father holding his son high on his shoulders, echoes a painting in Underground, in which a father holds his newborn child high up toward the sky. The strong vertical lines used for the arms of the marchers mirror the intensity of the day.
Share with readers of all ages as a beautiful message about peaceful protest and purposeful action. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59643-539-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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