A compelling story about those willing to risk “[a] lash for each letter.”
A slave mother and her daughter learn to read in spite of the great danger inherent in their enterprise.
Rosa’s mother awakens her at night to walk to a “pit school,” a hole dug in the ground and covered over where slaves gather to learn their ABC’s. Their teacher is a fellow slave who had been taught to read. The patrollers make their journey perilous. Still, the men, women and children gather as often as they can. Cline-Ransome sensitively tells the story from Rosa’s viewpoint, endowing her with a yearning and determination that overcome her mother’s weariness and fear. The author learned of these schools while researching her book on Frederick Douglass, Words Set Me Free (2012). In this tale, she makes the point that learning was not just a dream of a few famous and accomplished men and women, but one that belonged to ordinary folk willing to risk their lives. Ransome’s full-page watercolor paintings—in beautiful shades of blue for the night and yellow for the day—are a window, albeit somewhat gentle, into a slave’s life for younger readers.
A compelling story about those willing to risk “[a] lash for each letter.” (author’s note, further reading) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4231-3495-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Jump at the Sun
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
Interesting subject, but the story is less than satisfying.
Ava is finally allowed to open Aunt Jo’s mysterious trunk, and what’s inside is more magical than anything Ava could’ve imagined.
Ava, a young Black girl, likens her Aunt Jo’s house to a “fancy museum with curiosities, oddities, and doodads in every corner.” So when Aunt Jo finally gives Ava the key to the trunk she’s been eager to explore, she rushes to unlock it. Inside she finds what she thinks is an old blanket—more like a patchwork quilt. Ava learns that the blanket is made of fabric from gowns created by African American dressmaker and fashion designer Elizabeth Keckley. She and Aunt Jo are magically transported to the past, where they observe Keckley’s work and see the people she made dresses for, like first lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Together, they learn about two other African American modistes of a bygone era: fashion designer Ann Cole Lowe and milliner Mildred Blount. The bold, colorful illustrations are eye-catching and a highlight of the book. The information about the historical figures is presented in a way that feels disconnected from the rest of the story. The narrator’s identity is ambiguous, which is also confusing; the illustrations suggest that Aunt Jo is the narrator, yet the text lacks quotation marks. The book manages to provide interesting facts, but the absence of bibliographic references and backmatter is disappointing.
Interesting subject, but the story is less than satisfying. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5037-5928-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sunbird Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
A beautiful and long-overdue picture-book homage to the importance of ancestors in Afro-Caribbean cultures.
A magic shell helps a Black Caribbean immigrant child connect with her ancestors.
Pigeon Pea, a young girl with medium-brown skin and an Afro, watches her parents and aunts (cued as a lesbian couple) preparing roti and callaloo (Caribbean culinary staples) and asks big questions: Who were their ancestors, and what would they say if they were still with them? Aunty bestows her with a magical cowrie shell that “carries the story of our people across sea and distant lands.” The shell’s magic transports Pigeon Pea through time and space, first to Tobago, where she meets her African foremothers and Kalinago forebears and participates in their community rituals, and then to West Africa, where she learns the songs and dances of her ancestral kinfolk, meets the “spirit guides” of her family, and is counseled by Yemoja, the mother of all Orishas, who assures her that “we are always rooting for you! We are with you wherever you are.” Pigeon Pea returns from her journey eager to tell her contemporary family about her enlightening adventure. The final illustration is a perfect ending: Pigeon Pea’s happy family enjoys a meal surrounded by the smiling spirits of their ancestors. Familial love and the joy of self-discovery are affirmed in Christmas’ uplifting narrative. The questionable choice of rhyming text and a lack of perspective in Mungaray’s colorful animation-esque art don’t spoil this special and important story. All characters are Black or Indigenous.
A beautiful and long-overdue picture-book homage to the importance of ancestors in Afro-Caribbean cultures. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-9991562-4-4
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Flamingo Rampant
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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