79. Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera

listened on Audible
narrated by Robin Miles, Adenrele Ojo, Brittany Pressley
Unabridged audio (11:07)
2019 Park Row
352 pgs.
Historical Fiction
Finished 5/17/2020
Goodreads rating:
My rating: 4.5
Setting: 1924 rural SC

First line/s: "It's easier to kill a man than a gator, but it takes the same kind of wait."

My comments:  Told in three distinct voices and narrated incredibly beautifully by three different actors, this is the story of 1924 (?) rural South Carolina, on a tobacco farm/plantation owned by Edwin Coles.  Annie - Rita - Gretchen.  Gentile wife - black cook and housekeeper - ultra-poor white mother of four.  I am pretty sure that listening to this presentation added greatly to the story, especially when it was done by such superior reader.  What a story!

Goodreads synopsis:  A stunning tour de force following three fierce, unforgettable Southern women in the years leading up to the Great Depression
          It's 1924 South Carolina and the region is still recovering from the infamous boll weevil infestation that devastated the land and the economy. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters from starvation or die at the hands of an abusive husband. Retta is navigating a harsh world as a first-generation freed slave, still employed by the Coles, influential plantation proprietors who once owned her family. Annie is the matriarch of the Coles family and must come to terms with the terrible truth that has ripped her family apart.These three women seemingly have nothing in common, yet as they unite to stand up to the terrible injustices that have long plagued the small town, they find strength in the bond that ties women together. Told in the pitch-perfect voices of Gertrude, Retta and Annie, Call Your Daughter Home is an audacious, timeless story about the power of family, deep-buried secrets and the ferocity of motherhood.

74. The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

listened to audio borrowed from Bosler Library
narrated by Sophie Amoss, Sullivan Jones, Robin Miles, Bahni Turpin, Lisa Flanagan, Dominic Hoffman
Unabridged audio (15:16)
2020 Ballantine Books
388 pgs.
HistFiction told in two voices during two time periods
Finished 5/8/2020
Goodreads rating:   4.26 - 9918 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Louisiana, 1875 & 1987

First line/s: "A single ladybug lands featherlight on the teacher's finger, clings there, a living gemstone."

My comments:  Another book that has wowed me.  Based on the actual "book of lost friends," which were advertisements in the late 19th century posted by freed slaves looking for lost family members.  Told in two voices during two times periods, 1875 and 1987, and set in rural Louisiana, Hattie and Benny tell their tales.  Hattie is a freed slave, sharecropping on the same land where her family was enslaved, who ends up going on an adventurous journey trying to save the two daughters of the manor; half-sisters; one a miserable spoiled brat and the other a half Creole from New Orleans who was, of course, despised by her sister and her sister's mother.  Benny is a still wet-behind-the-ears brand new teacher who's landed a job in the "poor" school in the same town/locale as Hattie had lived.  A bibliophile, she has no books for her students, respect from her students, and no support from anyone local except the heir of the manor, who wants nothing to do with it or his uncles who run the town.  Benny, with the help of some of the town's African-American elders, gets the kids interested in their history, researching, learning, and starting to care about their roots.  Each chapter begins with an actual advertisement from the book of lost friends. I give it a 4.5 only because I think it start out a it slowly and didn't grab me 'til a bit of the way in.

Goodreads synopsis:  A new novel inspired by historical events: a story of three young women on a journey in search of family amidst the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who rediscovers their story and its connection to her own students' lives.
          Lisa Wingate brings to life stories from actual "Lost Friends" advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold off.
          Louisiana, 1875 In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now-destitute plantation; Juneau Jane, her illegitimate free-born Creole half-sister; and Hannie, Lavinia's former slave. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following dangerous roads rife with ruthless vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and eight siblings before slavery's end, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the seemingly limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.
           Louisiana, 1987 For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt--until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, seems suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled oaks and run-down plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything. 

31. Flight of the Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown

listened to audio/Audible
narrated by Heather Henderson
Unabridged audio (11:00)
2014 NAL
368 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction (based on a real person)
Finished 2/16/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.96 - 811 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: 1676+ Massachusetts Bay Colony

First line/s:  "Later, Mary will trace the first signs of the Lord's displeasure back to a hot July morning in 1672 when she pauses on the way to the barn to watch the sun rise burnt orange over the meetinghouse."

My comments:  Historical fiction, based on a factual person, Mary Rowlandson, who was captured by Indians in the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 1670s.  Though loosely based on the facts, we get a good glimpse of King Phillip's War and Puritanism in the New England in this time period.  Such harsh religious fervor!I would've never made it living in this time period without being beheaded.  I enjoyed listening to this, though I think there were many repetitious segments that could have been deleted.  I've been enjoying some well written historical fiction lately, and I hope I'll be able to continue to find more.

Goodreads synopsis:  She suspects that she has changed too much to ever fit easily into English society again. The wilderness has now become her home. She can interpret the cries of birds. She has seen vistas that have stolen away her breath. She has learned to live in a new, free way.... 
          Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1676. Even before Mary Rowlandson is captured by Indians on a winter day of violence and terror, she sometimes found herself in conflict with her rigid Puritan community. Now, her home destroyed, her children lost to her, she has been sold into the service of a powerful woman tribal leader, made a pawn in the on-going bloody struggle between English settlers and native people. Battling cold, hunger, and exhaustion, Mary witnesses harrowing brutality but also unexpected kindness. To her confused surprise, she is drawn to her captors’ open and straightforward way of life, a feeling further complicated by her attraction to a generous, protective English-speaking native known as James Printer. All her life, Mary has been taught to fear God, submit to her husband, and abhor Indians. Now, having lived on the other side of the forest, she begins to question the edicts that have guided her, torn between the life she knew and the wisdom the natives have shown her.
          Based on the compelling true narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Flight of the Sparrow is an evocative tale that transports the reader to a little-known time in early America and explores the real meaning of freedom, faith, and acceptance.

48. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

listened on Audible (borrowed from CCLS)
read by Bahni Turpin (great job)
Unabridged audio (11.56 - most I listened to at x1.25 because the narration was quite slow...)
2018 Baker & Bray
455 pgs.
YA dystopia
Finished June 1, 2019
Goodreads rating:  4.15 - 12,133 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Baltimore, MD and Kansas outback after the Civil War

First line/s:  "The day I came screaming and squalling into the world was the first time someone tried to kill me."

My comments:  The premise of this book was so hatefully racist that it was hard to read.  Our heroine, Jane, is smart, cocky, and very sure of herself - very likable indeed.  She deals with her lot in life with humor and honesty and it's never hard to swallow her decisions and motivations.  I listened to this while driving back-and-forth to Michigan and it certainly kept my attention, the wailing of the Shamblers notwithstanding!

Goodreads synopsis:  Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.
          But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems. 

PICTURE BOOK - So Tall Within by Gary D. Schmidt

Sojourner Truth's Long Walk Toward Freedom
Illustrated by Daniel Minter

2018, Roaring Brook Press

$18.99 HC

48 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.51 - 282 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  Solid rusty cranberry

Dedication from the author:  For Ashley Bryan, with gratitude for a long friendship

1^st line/s:  Poetry:  "In Slavery Time, when Hope was a deed waiting to be planted,"
Prose:  "Isabella lived in a cellar where the windows never let the sun in and the floorboards never dept the water out."

My comments:  Okay, I loved this book.  Poetry, prose, and good storytelling. Lovely illustrations. Gary Schmidt makes this historical woman real, which is such a difficult thing to do.  Making real people from the past come to life is something not many people can do well, ti's certainly done well here.  What an inspiration!

Goodreads:  From celebrated author Gary D. Schmidt comes a picture book biography of a giant in the struggle for civil rights, perfectly pitched for readers today.
          Sojourner Truth was born into slavery but possessed a mind and a vision that knew no bounds. So Tall Within traces her life from her painful childhood through her remarkable emancipation to her incredible leadership in the movement for rights for both women and African Americans. Her story is told with lyricism and pathos by Gary D. Schmidt, one of the most celebrated writers for children in the twenty-first century, and brought to life by award winning and fine artist Daniel Minter. This combination of talent is just right for introducing this legendary figure to a new generation of children.

PICTURE BOOK - Freedom Over Me by Ashley Bryan

Eleven slaves, their lives and dreams brought to life
Illustrated by the author

2016 Atheneum Books for Young Readers, A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book

HC $17.99
48 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.32- 1561 ratings

My rating:  5 (of course!)

Endpapers:  close up fo the script from purchass and sales in the 1800s

Illustrations:  pen, ink, and watercolor

1^st line/s:  "Mrs. Mary Fairchilds
I mourn the passing of
my husband, Cado Fairchilds.
He managed our estate alone.
Eleven Negro slaves,
they carried out the work
that made our estate prosper.
He never hired an overseer."

My comments:  Two free-style verses for each of the eleven slaves, plus an introductory free verse about/from the widowed owner of the eleven slaves - with incredible illustrations for each.  Oh my!

Goodreads:  Newbery Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book
          Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts the monetary value of a slave with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never take away.
          Imagine being looked up and down and being valued as less than chair. Less than an ox. Less than a dress. Maybe about the same as…a lantern.
          You, an object. An object to sell.
          In his gentle yet deeply powerful way, Ashley Bryan goes to the heart of how a slave is given a monetary value by the slave owner, tempering this with the one thing that CAN’T be bought or sold—dreams. Inspired by the actual will of a plantation owner that lists the worth of each and every one of his “workers”, Bryan has created collages around that document, and others like it. Through fierce paintings and expansive poetry he imagines and interprets each person’s life on the plantation, as well as the life their owner knew nothing about—their dreams and pride in knowing that they were worth far more than an Overseer or Madam ever would guess. Visually epic, and never before done, this stunning picture book is unlike anything you’ve seen. 

33. The Plantation by Chris Kuzneski

Payne & Jones #1
listened on Audible
2002, Paradox Publishing
432 pgs.
Adult Contemporary Mystery
Finished Sunday, June 18, 2017
Goodreads rating:  3.73
My rating: 2
Setting: Mostly New Orleans area, contemporary

My comments:  Didn't do it for me.  Took me forever to get through.  I'm thinking that I'm so used to this particular reader (I listened on audio), who has been the narrator for so many other mysteries  I've read that his inflections have become associated with other protagonists.  The"good" guys in The Plantation approach killing with the same kind of glee that the horrid slave owners did.  Very off-putting.  Also,  good vs. evil with no in between?  Payne's ardor for Ariana was also a little off-putting, it was so constantly notated.  And his "best friend's" subservient manner towards him bugged me too.  Waaaaay too long

Goodreads synopsis:  One by one, in cities across America, people of all ages are taken from their homes, their cars, their lives. But these aren’t random kidnappings. They’re crimes of passion,
planned and researched several months in advance, then executed with a singular objective in mind. Revenge.
          Ariane Walker is one of the victims, dragged from her apartment with few clues to follow. The police said there’s little they can do for her, but that isn’t good enough for her boyfriend, Jonathon Payne.

          With the help of his best friend (David Jones), Payne gives chase, hoping that a lead in New Orleans somehow pays off. Together, they uncover the mystery of Ariane’s abduction and the truth behind the South’s most violent secret.

PICTURE BOOK - The Longest Night: A Passover Story by Laurel Snyder

Illustrated by Catia Chien

2013, Schwartz & Wade Books

HC & price

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.84 - 102 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers:  Front: Very dark blue sky
Back:  Light Blue morning sky

1^st line/s:  "Every morning with the light
Came another day like night."

My comments:  This is a Jewish story, read and interpreted by a non-Jew, but a non-Jew who worked in a Hebrew Day School for 12 years and loved to learn all the stories and traditions of Judaism.  This story is written in couplets, with lovely rhythm in most places.  It tells the story from the point-of-view of a Jewish slave girl through the plagues and parting of the sea.  The language is beautiful, and when slowly and digested I loved it.  I was not a fan of the illustrations, and I hate saying that, but they were what I call "vague" illustrations.  Not abstract, but with a sense of abstractness.  I love abstract painting, but I like more detail in my picture books.  Personal preference, apologies to Ms. Chien.

Goodreads:  Here's a picture book for all Jewish families to read while celebrating Passover. Unlike other Passover picture books that focus on the contemporary celebration of the holiday, or are children's haggadahs, this gorgeous picture book in verse follows the actual story of the Exodus. Told through the eyes of a young slave girl, author Laurel Snyder and illustrator Catia Chien skillfully and gently depict the story of Pharoah, Moses, the 10 plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea in a remarkably accessible way. 
          "Evocative and beautiful... flawlessly evokes the spirit of the Old Testament story," raves Publishers Weekly in a starred review. This dramatic adventure, set over 3,500 years ago, of a family that endures hardships and ultimately finds freedom is the perfect tool to help young children make sense of the origins of the Passover traditions.

PICTURE BOOK - My Name is James Madison Hemings by Jonah Winter

Illustrated by Terry Widener

2016, Schwartz & Wade Books
Goodreads rating: 4.26 - 151 ratings

My rating: 5

Endpapers Front:  Brown / Back: Dark Green

Illustrations:  Acrylic on Bristol board.  Fantastic.

1^st line/s: "My mother, Sally Hemings, was herself born into slavery, as had been her mother, my grandmother Elizabeth."

My comments:  Here is a picture book for older readers (we need more of them!) that doesn't tiptoe around the truth.  Yippee, Jonah Winters!   Beautifully told from the point-of-view of James Madison Hemings as a child, he tells how he feels to be "owned" by his father, treated a bit better than the other slaves at Monticello, but nowhere near like Jefferson treated his white grandchildren.  Terry Widener's illustrations are right-on, perfect for the text.  Usually Jonah Winter's mother, Jeanette, does his illustrations, but as much as I LOVE her work, I really like the way this book is presented as a whole. It was a brave topic to be tackled for a children's picture book and Jonah Winter did an admirable job.

Goodreads:  Here’s a powerful historical picture book about the child of founding father Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved Sally Hemings. 
          In an evocative first-person account accompanied by exquisite artwork, Winter and Widener tell the story of James Madison Hemings’s childhood at Monticello, and, in doing so, illuminate the many contradictions in Jefferson’s life and legacy. Though Jefferson lived in a mansion, Hemings and his siblings lived in a single room. While Jefferson doted on his white grandchildren, he never showed affection to his enslaved children. Though he kept the Hemings boys from hard field labor—instead sending them to work in the carpentry shop—Jefferson nevertheless listed the children in his “Farm Book” along with the sheep, hogs, and other property. Here is a profound and moving account of one family’s history, which is also America’s history.
          An author's note includes more information about Hemings, Jefferson, and the author's research.

Civil Rights and Being Black in America

PICTURE BOOKS
1960s
Bass, Hester - Seeds of Freedom (2015) Huntsville, AL 1962-1963, peaceful desegregation
Faulkner, Matt - A Taste of Colored Water (2008) during desegregtion
Pinkney, Andrea Davis - How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down (2010) Greensboro sit-ins
Ramsey, Calvin Alexander - Belle, the Last Mule at Gee's Bend (2011) the mule that pulled MLKs casket
Tonatiuh, Ducan - Separate is Never Equal; Sylvia Mendez and her Family's Fight for Desegregation

Between the 1860s and 1960s
Malaspina, Ann - Finding Lincoln (2009) segregation
McKissack, Patricia C. _ Stitchin' and Pullin' a Gee's Bend Quilt (2007)
Shange, Ntozake - We Trouble the Waters (2009)- poems about being black in the south in the 1940s

Slavery in America (including Underground Railroad)
Hendrix, John - John Brown : His Fight for Freedom (2008)
Johnson, Angela - All Different Now (2014) emancipation
Levine, Ellen - Henry's Freedom Box (2007) being sold away from family
Polacco, Patricia - January's Sparrow (2009)  runaways to freedom
Slate, Joseph - I Want to Be Free (2009)
Stroud, Bettye - The Patchwork Path: a Pathway to Freedom (2005)
Weatherford, Carole Boston - Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (2006)
Whelan, Gloria - The Listeners (2009) plantation

Famous People in Black History
Blue, Rose & Corinne J. Naden - Ron's Big Mission (2009) a story about Ron McNair in 1959
Cook, Michelle - Our Children Can Soar (2009) 2-pg. biographies of people important to black history
Hendrix, John - John Brown : His Fight for Freedom (2008)
Shange, Ntozake - Coretta Scott (2009) Picture book biography
Taveres Matt - Henry Aaron's Dream (2010)
Weatherford, Carole Boston - Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (2006)

NOVELS
Anderson, Laurie Halse - Chains (2008) Slavery during the American Revolution (YA)
Latham, Irene - Leaving Gee's Bend -(2010) 1932 Alabama (Middle Grades)
Sturm, James - Satchel Paige; Striking Out Jim Crow (2007) (Graphic Novel for Middle Grades)

PICTURE BOOK - All Different Now - Angela Johnson

Juneteenth; the First Day of Freedom
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis

2014, Simon & Schuster

32 pgs.
HC $17.99

Goodreads rating:

My rating:

Endpapers: mottled light green
Very little white on pages!

1^st line/s:   "A June morning breeze off the port blew the smell of honeysuckle past the fields, across the yard, and into our room to wake us up."

My comments:  As usual, E. B. Lewis's illustrations are breathtaking.  He tells about their creation in an Illustrator's Note at the back of the book.  The first 24 pages tell the story of Juneteenth - June 19th - the emancipation of slavery - with simple verse and these incredible paintings.  The last five pages are more information - resources, reminisces, timeline, history, glossary.  Wow.  A huge piece of US history, simply and beautifully told and referenced.

Goodreads:  Through the eyes of one little girl, All Different Now tells the story of the first Juneteenth, the day freedom finally came to the last of the slaves in the South. Since then, the observance of June 19 as African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond. This stunning picture book includes notes from the author and illustrator, a timeline of important dates, and a glossary of relevant terms.

MOVIE - Belle

PG (1:45)

Limited Release 5/2/2014

Viewed at ElCon with Sheila and Ronnie on 5/28/14

RT Critic: 84  Audience:  89

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by:  Amma Asante

Fox Searchlight

Actors: the lead has the enticing name Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Tom Felton (Malfoy!) 

My comments:  I wonder why they decided to title this movie "Belle?"  I guess DIDO might be a little .... off-putting?  Anyways, this was a wonderful movie, with an ending that was deliciously happy, so I bet some people would like the movie less.  It was based on a true story and took place somewhere around 1780 (80 years before the American Civil War) in England.  It was beautifully crafted in every way, from casting to setting to costume to thoughtful dialogue.  The man sitting beside me said this was the third time he'd seen it!  A GREAT was to learn a little history and be totally entertained at the same time.

Reviews;  BELLE is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode). Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle's lineage affords her certain privileges, yet her status prevents her from the traditions of noble social standing. While her cousin Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) chases suitors for marriage, Belle is left on the sidelines wondering if she will ever find love. After meeting an idealistic young vicar's son bent on changing society, he and Belle help shape Lord Mansfield's role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England. 

56. The Firefly Letters - Margarita Engle

A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba
Henry Holt & Co. 2010
HC - $16.99
library 813.54 En35f
151 pages, with resources
Rating: 4

Written in verse form - and from four different points-of-view, we learn of Fredrika Bremer, the Swedish socialite that decided, in the mid-1800's, to travel the world and learn about women's rights in those different places. She is in Cuba for this story, staying with a rich family and being accompanied by a young female slave because Cecilia has a head for languages and can translate.

Cecelia is a slave, sold by her father and far from her African homeland, now 15, married, and pregnant. She is a valuable commodity because of her language skills, but she has "lung disease" and we never find out how she and her baby survive.

Elena is the daughter of the rich Cuban landowner, also a slave in a way, for she can never leave her house...having no freedom at all in her own land.

Frederika loves the beauty of Cuba but hates the oppression of slavery and women.

We hear these voices. We see this firefly-laden country, which all three women seem to love. This book gives us some insight into Cuba, and makes us look at slavery, realizing that its oppressive wings spread even more far and wide than we'd like to realize. And it introduces us to a woman that I'd like to learn more about, Fredrika Bremer. However, I kept waiting for the story to grab me, pull me in. For some reason I was never really pulled in. Maybe it was the mood I was in when I read it....for it's short and I read it in one big swallow. If there's more talk about it, and there's been a bit of talk, I'll read it again in another few months.

12. Chains - Laurie Halse Anderson

Audio read by Madisun Leigh
Brilliance Audio, 2008
7 unabridged cds: 8 hours
320 pages
Rating: 4- an excellent read

Anything and everything bad that could happen to a slave happened to the protagonist in this book.

John Brown: His Fight for Freedom - John Hendrix

Abrams Bks for Young Readers, 2009
$18.95
40 pgs
for: 3rd grade upward
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Dark Reddish-Brown

I've been to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia many times. Not only is it a small (and quaint) town, but it is also a National Historical Park with fascinating history. It sits on a piece of land where WV, VA, and MD all come together, and where two rivers, the Potomac and Shenendoah, converge. And it is famous for John Brown. But all the information I ever knew about this man was foggy. An abolitionist, yes. But some have called him a madman. A very controversial one. So I was greatly excited to find this book.

It certainly looks like John Hendrix has researched thoroughly and well. He has written - and beautifully illustrated - an intelligent history, making John Brown human, and giving the facts of his thinking and crusading. In a two-page Author's Note he gives his feelings about John Brown, his beliefs and reactions. I found it extremely interesting.

John Brown hated the idea of slavery. He hated the idea that all men were NOT equal. He took it as his life's mission to try to do something to stop slavery in the United States. Although there was an instance in Kansas where, in acute frustration, he was involved in killing people, that does not seem to be a major part in his overall quest. All he wanted to do was stop slavery by amassing by creating an army of black and white believers that could help. Creating an army certainly means war, but I think he realized that it would not be a bloodless fight. Harriet Tubman was one of his biggest supporters and allies!

This book gives a reader great insight into the murky history of John Brown. I liked and appreciated it a lot. And the illustrations - pen and ink with an acrylic wash - greatly added to the telling of this story.

The Listeners - Gloria Whelan

Illustrated by Mike Benny
Tales of Young Americans Series
Sleeping Bear Press, 2009
$17.95
40 pages
For: Kids old enough to understand slavery
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: White (a tiny drawback...)

I begin with Gloria Whelan's "Author's Note," found at the beginning of the book: "The lives of slaves depended on circumstances beyond their control. They had nothing to say about whom they would work for or where they would live. They never knew when they might be separated from their children or their spouses. Hoping to learn their fate, they sent small children to hide near the windows of their masters' homes to listen.

Authors are listeners, too, that's how they find their stories. They listen. Sometimes they hear stories from people who have lived them. Sometimes they hear words spoken long ago and set down in books. It's what writers do; they listen, and like Bobby, Sue, and Ella May they pass the stories along."

This information for kids is twofold - it talks to the reader about slavery AND about being a writer.

This book looks at slavery from a slightly different angle, it looks at the hard work that even very young children do, and it looks at how some of the massive groups of slaves were able to find out any information about what was going on in the country and in the world of their plantation. It is a thought-provoking tale about three young kids who listen outside the window of their "owner's" to glean any kind of news that might be relevant to them.

Dark, glorious illustrations going all the way to the edge of the page richly accentuate this gracefully told story. Outstanding.

Moses - Carole Boston Weatherford

When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, 2006
$15.99
48 pages
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: bright yellow-orange
Forward and Author's Note
2007 Caldecott Honor Award
2007 Coretta Scott King WINNER

Kadir Nelson is a master at creating mood in his illustrations., I can smell the air. I can hear the crickets. I can feel her intense sadness.

I know well the story of Harriet Tubman and her many trips between the south and the north guiding slaves to freedom. I know of her bravery and perseverance. I did not know about her deep spirituality and belief in God, although I guess I'm not surprised. This book is the story of her first journey - a lone journey - and the talks she might have had with God. The same kind of conversation that the original Moses might have had with God. Those words - God's answers to her questions, his guiding advice, are written in a larger, paler font and twist and turn in and around the pictures. Quite beautiful. But we're talking Kadir Nelson here....

I like the way this shows the relationship Harriet Tubman felt with God. It doesn't matter whether or not you're a believer - it tells of HER beliefs. And it's apparently those beliefs, that relationship, that pushed her and gave her the bravery to succeed.

1820-1913. I've been to her grave. I have a photo somewhere. I'll look for it.

Henry's Freedom Box - Ellen Levine

A True Story from the Underground Railroad
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Published: 2007
Read 1/31/09 B&N
Rating: 5
2008 Caldecott Honor Book
Endpapers: Medium brown

What a story! What detailed, heart-tugging illustrations! It begins, "Henry Brown wasn't sure how old he was. Henry was a slave. And slaves weren't allowed to know their birthdays. That sure says a lot. The illustration is of a young, barefoot boy sitting on a barrell and just staring....

Henry is sold away from his family. He works in a tobacco factory for years, meets a young woman named Nancy, they are given permission to wed. They have three kids. But one day, Nancy and the kids are sold and he loses them forever. He decides to try to become a free man. With the help of a white doctor who thought slavery was wrong, he mailed himself in a crate to Philadelphia - and freedom. It worked.

I think as much as we hear about families being torn apart, about the indignity that black slaves went through, that a story like this for kids that tells (and shows) the truth is still very much needed to make a hard-to-understand concept more real.

And oh, the illustrations. Kadir Nelson's illustrations for All God's Critters were really different than those he did for this, but just as amazing and wonderful. I have a new hero! Crosshatched pencil lines are covered with layers of watercolor and oil paints. The back flap says he also illustrated Ellington Was Not a Street (Ntozake Shange) and Just the Two of Us (Will Smith). You'll see both of those reviewed here soon, what do you want to bet?

The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom - Bettye Stroud

Illustrator: Erin Susanne Bennett
Published: 2005
Rating: 5
Read: 1/31/09 B&N
Paperback version, no endpapers

I am becoming more and more impressed with the quality of story and illustration that Candlewick Press publishes.

Based on a quilt code that has been verified (and written about in Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, published by Jacqueline Tobin and Dr. Raymond Dobard, 1999), Bettye Stroud has written a story about Hannah and her father's arduous journey as runaway slaves from a Georgia plantation into Canada. There are lots of details - about quilt patterns, about the Undergraound Railroad, about Quakers and some of the history of help along the way. However, it's not too lengthy - it's a fascinating account and overview, but short enough to keep even a younger child's interest. It would be a great read aloud to go along with a slavery, Black History, (or even Harriet Tubman) unit - and the quilt patterns which are integrated into the story could be integrated beautifully into the classroom in various ways - math and art and illustration and even hands-on with fabric, needle, and thread!

I Want to Be Free - Joseph Slate

Illustrator: E. B. Lewis
For: Kids - School age
Published: 2009
Rating: 4.5
Read: 1/31/09 B&N
Endpapers: Med. Sage Blue

In rhyming couplets we accompany a slave - who is able to remove the chain from his leg, but not the clamp from his ankle - to his freedom. Along the way he encounters a motherless child who is being left behind for slave-hunters to find, so he takes it upon himself to take the young boy with him. Then he forages for two...to the Land of the Free. There, the child touches the ring on his ankle and it falls away. This is when it gets weirdly religious - "How, dear child, did you set me free?/ I'm from the Lord. You cared for me."

Hmmm. Then I turned the page and got my explanation for this curious ending: AUTHOR'S NOTE: "This poem is a retelling of a story in the sacred literature of Buddha about his disciple, the Elephant Ananda, as related by Rudyard Kipling in his novel, Kim. I moved its setting and language to anther time, as I believe its them to be universal." Okay, that explains that. Maybe its time for me to investigat Buddha a little, 'cause I have no idea about this Elephant Ananda......intriguing.....

I just read The Negro Speaks of Rivers, also illustrated by E. B. Lewis. Wow. His dark, full page illustrations are emotional and inspiring.