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.