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Here’s a biography of someone we really know very little about. What do you make of Hill’s poem? Do you want to learn more? Do Collier’s illustrations fill in some gaps?

The information at the end tells us more, but in fact we are still left with a mystery. Do Collier’s collages match the tone of the text?

We’re also reading some articles about this book. You can comment on the articles on that page, but I’d love to know how they affected your appreciation of the book.

The post Dave the Potter appeared first on The Horn Book.

The story of Dave the Potter by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier (Little, Brown and Company, 2010) combines two great loves of mine — poetry and pottery — so I was absolutely delighted to have been introduced to this recently published book by Myra at Gathering Books.   The historical ‘Dave’ was an unusual combination of talent in an age where such talents would not have only been under-appreciated but potentially dangerous.  Dave was a skilled and literate slave of the mid 1800′s in South Carolina.  His legacy is a collection of large pots and urns, some of which have lines written into them.  The lines are short and cryptic, reminiscent of Dickinson.  For example, on one of his earliest known pots — a large one for which Dave had a reputation for creating — are inscribed these lines:

put every bit all between
surely this Jar will hold 14

This particular pot could hold fourteen gallons, and these short lines conveyed the volume capacity in rhyme.  Other couplets also appear, giving more of a sense of Dave’s personality and of his vocation.  Particularly moving was this couplet:

I, made this Jar, all of cross
If, you don’t repent, you will be, lost

Dave the Potter is a picture book, sumptuously illustrated by Bryan Collier, who has captured well the nature of the man and his art. There’s a lovely fold-out panel of illustrations showing the process of pot-making which is visually affecting. My daughter and I really enjoyed Dave the Potter; it is a wonderful book telling a little known story of — as the book’s  subtitle indicates — an ‘artist, poet and slave’ of the American south.

This week’s Poetry Friday host is Doraine at Dori Reads.

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 10, 2011

As announced by the American Library Association (ALA) …

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award

Recognizing an African American author of outstanding books for children and young adults:

“One Crazy Summer,” written by Rita Williams-Garcia is the 2011 King Author Book winner. The book is published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Three King Author Honor Books were selected:

“Lockdown,” by Walter Dean Myers and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; “Ninth Ward,” by Jewell Parker Rhodes and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.; and “Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty,” written by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke and published by Lee & Low Books Inc.

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award

Recognizing an African American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

“Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave,” illustrated by Bryan Collier, is the 2011 King Illustrator Book winner. The book was written by Laban Carrick Hill and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

One King Illustrator Honor Book was selected:

“Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix,” illustrated by Javaka Steptoe, written by Gary Golio and published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent (Author) Award

“Zora and Me

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We don’t talk enough, you and I.  About the National Book Awards, I mean.  Seems to me that the only time we pay much attention to them is when they release their shortlist, and by that point the only thing left to predict is what the ultimate winner will be.  It hasn’t quite the same press recognition of a Newbery or Caldecott, but I enjoy the NBAs.  They’re one of the few times authors have a chance to give a big award to their peers.  There’s much to be said for that, you know.

There are some interesting differences between NBA committees and ALSC committees too.  For example, while a person on a Newbery committee is allowed to give their personal opinion on a title, an NBA committee member is not allowed to give so much as a smidgen of an opinion from start to finish.  Linda Sue Park, as I recall, when asked during her tenure as to what books she liked would begin with, “Well I was really impressed by . . .” then slap her own hands over her mouth and end with, “hmmm mmm mmm hmmmm mmm.”

Another essential difference is that not all children’s and YA books are considered for the award.  In fact, they must be nominated by their publishers and each book must pay a $125 entry fee.  Yikes!  The result is that it is the publishers who pick and choose what to send it.  By this time of year they can no longer send in anything (the deadline has passed) so not only will we be predicting what the committee members like but also what the publishers feel have the best chances.

This year the NBA committee members in the Young People’s Literature category include Laban Carrick Hill, Kelly Link, Tor Seidler, Hope Anita Smith, and Sara Zarr.  Not too shabby, eh?

I’ve been watching the NBA Young People’s Literature nominees for a number of years now and have determined that the kind of books they prefer are titles that are YA, a little more obscure than those with Newbery potential, and out of far right field.  In short: Impossible to predict.

Not that we don’t like to try!  With the given understanding that I’ve never tried this before, I don’t read YA, and every NBA committee has a different vibe to it, let’s have some fun with this!

In brief, my thoughts on potential nominees would include:

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford -
Clearly this is this year’s Lips Touch sans any actual lips touching.  If any book was a shoo-in for serious consideration in the middle grade category, I’d have to hand it to Ms. Milford.  In fact, of all the books I list here, Kate’s is the only one that I would