By: Maryann Yin,
on 10/2/2014
The Society of Illustrators will host an exhibition called “The Art of Leo and Diane Dillon.”
This art show will open on October 21, 2014 and run until December 20, 2014. Visitors will see pieces from the famed husband-and-wife artistic collaborators.
Throughout their careers, the Dillon created illustrations for more than 50 children’s books. Together, they won several awards including two Caldecott Medals.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
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By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: February 11, 2012
In celebration of African American History month, I discovered some especially moving books to share with The Children’s Book Review. Fighting for justice and equality through solidarity and courage, these books uncover the truth of the African American experience whether it’s during the time of the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement or even today.
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African AmericansBy Kadir Nelson
In truly stunning paintings, Nelson follows the trajectory of the African-American experience in all of its harrowing and haunting glory. Beginning with slavery and ending with the civil rights movement, he gently describes the events to enlighten and as he explains in his gentle prologue, “make some things known before they’re gone for good.” You’ll find more details on Nelson’s remarkable book in these two stories from NPR and The New York Times and additional notes from the publisher. (Ages 8-11. Publisher: HarperCollins)
When Grandmama SingsBy Margaree King Mitchell; illustrated by James E. Ransome
It’s almost incredible to recall that Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong were not allowed as audience members in many of the theaters where they performed sold-out, standing-room-only shows. In Mitchell’s story, a small-town woman with a magnificent voice decides to bring her granddaughter along on tour. Although they are harassed, refused service and even payment from one stage manager, Grandmama keeps singing to inspire and bring people together with courage and the power of her conviction. (Ages 5-9. Publisher: HarperCollins)
We MarchIn this eloquent book by Shane W. Evans, author of Underground, he recounts the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. His bold illustrations depict families as they make their way to the Lincoln
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By: Betsy Bird,
on 8/25/2011
The more I read children’s literature the more I come to realize that my favorite books for kids are the ones that can take disparate facts, elements, and stories and then weave them together into a perfect whole. That someone like Brian Selznick can link automatons and the films of Georges Melies in The Invention of Hugo Cabret or Kate Milford can spin a story from the history of bicycles and the Jake Leg Scandal in The Boneshaker thrills me. Usually such authors reserve their talents for chapter books. There they’ve room to expound at length. And Patricia McKissack is no stranger to such works of fiction. Indeed some of her chapter books are the best in a given library collection (I’ve a personal love of her Porch Lies). But for Never Forgotten Ms. McKissack took tales of Mende blacksmiths and Caribbean legends of hurricanes and combined them into a picture book. Not just any picture book, mind you, but one that seeks to answer a question that I’ve never heard adequately answered in any books for kids: When Africans were kidnapped by the slave trade and sent across the sea, how did the people left behind react? The answer comes in this original folktale. Accompanied by the drop dead gorgeous art of Leo & Diane Dillon, the book serves to remind and heal all at once. The fact that it’s beautiful to both eye and ear doesn’t hurt matters much either.
When the great Mende blacksmith Dinga found himself with a baby boy after his wife died he bucked tradition and insisted on raising the boy himself. For Musafa, his son, Dinga called upon the Mother Elements of Earth, Fire, Water and Wind and had them bless the child. Musafa grew in time but spent his blacksmithing on creating small creatures from metal. Then, one day, Dinga discovers that Musafa has been kidnapped by slave traders in the area. Incensed, each of the four elements attempts to help Dinga get Musafa back, but in vain. Finally, Wind manages to travel across the sea. There she finds Musafa has found a way to make use of his talent with metal, creating gates in a forge like no one else’s. And Dinga, back at home, is comforted by her tale that his son is alive and, for all intents and purposes, well.
McKissack’s desire to give voice to the millions of parents and families that mourned the kidnapping of their children ends her book on a bittersweet note. After reading about Musafa’s disappearance and eventual life, the book finishes with this: “Remember the wisdom of Mother Dongi: / ‘Kings may come and go, / But the fam
Once On This Island sounds like the perfect comparison.
Sounds great and I’m so happy you reviewed this and can’t wait to see it. But I do have a quibble with your quibble. Having done a lot of reading (and more and more right now, it so happens) on the slave trade what I come away with is that it is tricky to generalize and so, while certainly it may not have been that common for a skilled person to be freed, it certainly could happen and did. For example, Olaudah Equiano was promised by his master that if he raised the funds he would be allowed to buy his own freedom. When he did the master got cold feet because Equiano was a skilled mariner, but was convinced by someone else to do it.
I also think this is McKissack’s story, a work of fiction, and this is how she chose to end it, perhaps unrealistic in a general way, but not for some. (Since I’m researching the Africa side of this just now I’m VERY interested in all this right now:)
Your quibble quibble is well quibbled. I should have made it clearer that for me this ending didn’t feel quite right. But as you say, generalizing a situation like this puts the reviewer into dangerous territory. Well played, Ms. E.
HECK YES OOTI REFERENCE!!!