The human capacity to reach out to those who suffer is lovingly and inspiringly rendered. (Picture book. 4-8)
A moment of communal compassion is remembered in this fictionalized retelling of a too-little-known tale.
When little Kedi learns from her Cameroon village’s teacher that the people of New York are starving thanks to the Great Depression, she can’t get the problem out of her head. Determined to help the hungry children overseas, Kedi appeals to all the people of her village, only to be rebuffed. No one has enough money to pay the colonial head tax, let alone spare riches for an unknown poor. Downcast, Kedi returns to school, only to discover that her efforts to open the hearts of her neighbors have worked beyond her wildest hopes. Rockliff’s recap of this true 1931 incident taps into the wonder of altruism toward total strangers. An author's note explaining not just the story’s background but also similar historical incidents proves to be almost more fascinating than the book itself. All this is accompanied by Tanksley’s lush, vibrantly colored paintings, which take seemingly simple images and render them big, beautiful and bold. They make what might otherwise be a rote story lush.
The human capacity to reach out to those who suffer is lovingly and inspiringly rendered. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-84569-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
A life devoted to freedom and dignity, worthy of praise and remembrance.
With the words of Massachusetts colonial rebels ringing in her ears, a slave determines to win her freedom.
In 1780, Mumbet heard the words of the new Massachusetts constitution, including its declaration of freedom and equality. With the help of a young lawyer, she went to court and the following year, won her freedom, becoming Elizabeth Freeman. Slavery was declared illegal and subsequently outlawed in the state. Woelfle writes with fervor as she describes Mumbet’s life in the household of John Ashley, a rich landowner and businessman who hosted protest meetings against British taxation. His wife was abrasive and abusive, striking out with a coal shovel at a young girl, possibly Mumbet’s daughter. Mumbet deflected the blow and regarded the wound as “her badge of bravery.” Ironically, the lawyer who took her case, Theodore Sedgwick, had attended John Ashley’s meetings. Delinois’ full-bleed paintings are heroic in scale, richly textured and vibrant. Typography becomes part of the page design as the font increases when the text mentions freedom. Another slave in the Ashley household was named in the court case, but Woelfle, keeping her young audience in mind, keeps it simple, wisely focusing on Mumbet.
A life devoted to freedom and dignity, worthy of praise and remembrance. (author’s note, selected bibliography, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7613-6589-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A beautiful portrayal of a historic and arduous family journey northward
One family’s experience of the Great Migration.
Cline-Ransome and Ransome, a husband-and-wife author-and-illustrator team, have again collaborated on an important story from African American history. Narrator Ruth Ellen, Mama, and Daddy awaken early to travel to New York without the permission or knowledge of the landowner on whose land they sharecrop. (The author’s note mentions that landowners often used threats and violence to keep sharecroppers on the land and perpetually in debt.) The family boards the train with luggage, tickets, and food in a shoebox—since black folks cannot eat in the dining car and must sit in the colored section of the train. The conductor calls out the cities as they progress North. When the conductor removes the “whites only” sign near Baltimore, African Americans can sit wherever they want—though it takes some time before Ruth Ellen and her family find white riders who smile a welcome. Ruth Ellen reads Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass aloud to Mama on the train ride, a gift from her teacher that parallels her own family’s journey. Ransome’s watercolor-and-collage illustrations effectively capture both the historical setting and the trepidation of a family who though not enslaved, nevertheless must escape as if they were. Cotton bolls throughout the images accentuate cotton’s economic dominance in the sharecropping system.
A beautiful portrayal of a historic and arduous family journey northward . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3873-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
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