Garcia is apparently lost to history aside from her petition, but its very existence marks her as “truly an unforgettable...
By way of tribute, two admirers spin a tale around a truly rare document: a petition sent by an 18th-century enslaved woman to a Brazilian governor.
The letter, a brief one reporting a new master’s ill treatment and begging for permission to rejoin her husband and have her children baptized, was discovered only in 1979 and is presented here in a modernized translation. Around it Rosa embroiders a rudimentary storyline that feels oddly disconnected. She begins with Garcia herself explaining that her previous, Jesuit owners had taught her to read and write before she was separated from her husband, then switches to the third person at an arbitrary point, then just as abruptly shifts from narrative to exposition at the end. Also, there being no record of a reply to the letter, Rosa opts just to leave Garcia waiting for one, closing with the hyperbolic claim that her “voice was a forceful cry for liberation.” Hees’ richly hued illustrations show Afro-Brazilian influences in stylized background settings made of patterned bands and very dark-skinned figures with strong, composed features. A historical note includes a map of the colonial locale but no reproduction of the actual letter.
Garcia is apparently lost to history aside from her petition, but its very existence marks her as “truly an unforgettable woman!” (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-55498-729-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
When used in concert with other sources, a powerful life of a determined woman who rose from slavery to preach for freedom.
An American story of an extraordinary woman.
Writing in free verse and borrowing the voice of the great abolitionist, Turner presents a powerful account of Truth’s life. Born into slavery as Isabella and sold from family to family, she took the name Sojourner Truth and began preaching for freedom. Later in life, she dictated her story, published as The Narrative of Sojourner Truth. Ransome paints in evocative watercolors that are barely contained in full-bleed pages that capture both the drama and the sorrow of her life. Particularly effective is a double-page spread with three views of Sojourner Truth behind a pulpit forcefully “tell[ing] the news of God’s truth in meetings and gatherings.” Against a white background, the images explode across the pages. Selected words in larger type and italics are a strong component of the page design. As a read-aloud, the text is strong and effective. As a part of a curriculum, there are concerns. The first-person narrative can be mistakenly taken as an autobiography, which it is not, and quotations are not sourced.
When used in concert with other sources, a powerful life of a determined woman who rose from slavery to preach for freedom. (author’s note, photograph, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-075898-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
Parks’ photography gave a powerful and memorable face to racism in America; this book gives him to young readers.
He aimed his camera lens at fashion models and at struggling African-American workers.
Parks, a talented and multifaceted man, was born in the Midwest in 1915 and attended a school where the white teacher told the black students that they would “all end up porters and waiters.” But Parks, at 25, was inspired by a magazine article and spent $7.50 on a used camera. He went on to work in Washington, D.C., for the Farm Security Administration, capturing pictures of African-Americans in their everyday lives—not the white men of the monuments. Famously, he portrayed a cleaning lady name Ella Watson in a portrait that became known as his American Gothic. Echoing the farmers in Grant Woods’ painting, Watson posed in front of an American flag with a broom in one hand and a mop in the other. Weatherford writes in the present tense with intensity, carefully choosing words that concisely evoke the man. Christoph’s digitally rendered illustrations brilliantly present Parks’ world through strong linear images and montages of his photographs. One double-page spread hauntingly portrays run-down buildings with the Capitol Dome hovering in the distance.
Parks’ photography gave a powerful and memorable face to racism in America; this book gives him to young readers. (afterword, author’s note, photographs) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8075-3017-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
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