In 1926 historian Carter G. Woodson pushed for one week in February to become “Negro History Week” to “inspire exploration and study of important African-Americans”. He had no idea how his change would develop, nor what the future would hold. Woodson was typical of many African-Americans who struggled to find success. Raised in Kentucky’s coal mines, he didn’t begin his high school education until 20, then graduated in two years and went on to get a Harvard P.hd..
New children’s books show heroes and heroines from different fields of endeavor that serve as the kinds of models Woodson wanted the world to know about. People who, like Woodson, were determined to change the world.
Two picture book heroines from long ago eras serve as guides to show today’s children strong examples from the past.
We meet a slave child in Most Loved in All the World (Houghton, $17.00, ages 8-10) by Tonya Hegamin. The unnamed young girl waits for her Mama to leave the fields so she can rub salve in her mother’s cuts and watch her sew pieces of material that have been “handed down from the Big House”. We see through her innocent eyes and know the child has no idea her mother is working on a quilt to guide others to freedom. But readers will be surprised by the startling and tender climax as the mother sends her “most loved in all the world” child off to escape with others. Illustrator Cozbi Cabrera blends cloth-collaged quilt patches with pastels to convey time, place and feelings.
Patricia McKissack’s Coretta Scott King winner, Goin’ Someplace Special (Aladdin, $6.99, ages 8-10) is new in paperback. Based on the author’s memories of 1950 segregated Nashville, we watch Tricia Ann travel through a Jim Crow city to “someplace special”. Her excitement and pride erode until she is finally restored by the sign at her destination, “Public Library:All Are Welcome.” Jerry Pinkney’s realistic watercolors capture sights, sounds and emotions.
Two books celebrate the poetry of Langston Hughes. E.B. Lewis’s watercolors are a tribute to The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Disney, $16.99, ages 5-adult). Lewis, interprets the depth of rivers and poetic meaning with his sensitive, perceptive paintings of places, people and the power of Hughes’ somber, sonorous ten lines.
Charles Smith Jr.’s photography illustrates Hughes’ My People (Atheneum, $17.99, ages 4- adult). Embracing Hughes’ intention to celebrate his people, Smith assembles striking portraits of people of “differing shades and ages” with “skin color as bright as the sun and as dark as the night”. Black backgrounds accentuate details and expressions, from poignant wrinkles of an aged face to the crinkle-eyed excitement of young children.
Three-time Coretta Scott Award winner, Ashley Bryan’s photo-filled autobiography memorializes life, art, and nature. The cover of Ashley Bryan: Words to My Life’s Song (Atheneum,$18.99, ages 7-10) show the author-artist with his arms spread wide, as if he’s opening up his world to readers. Indeed he is! Luxuriant double page spreads honor his current life on Little Cranberry Island, Maine, his past, and the many forms of art he has discovered along the way. The book is vivid, his words clear and evocative, and his varied art vibrant and stirring.
Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson Co-Discoverer of the North Pole by Deborah Hopkinson and Stephen Alcorn (Peachtree, $17.95, ages 7-10) blends image of word and picture to describe the travels and traits of a man who trekked into hostile environments bringing with him perseverance, courage, and kindness. Alcorn’s illustrations are largely pastel, but details illuminate Henson’s seeking nature, showing the explorer following a golden path and stars and standing under a sunset orb in the white Inuit world. Hopkinson’s words concur. In verse-like blocks she tells of Henson’s growing up “in a time when poor black boys like him had few chances to roam the next county, to say nothing of another country, the seven seas, or the top of the world.”
Three books dramatically describe poignant heroes of the Civil Rights era. Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation (Greenwillow, $16.99, ages 7-10) is the inspired work of wife and husband, Andrea and Brian Pinkney. Their joined visual and verbal voices mingle history, music, and metaphor as they tell how Jim Crow “strutted” up to the bus seat of Rosa Parks with a “peck, peck, peck” duet as the bus driver’s finger waved and “that blue-black wing pressed at Rosa’s nose.” And how black people walked “With dogged feet. With dog-tired feet. With boycott feet. With Boycott blues” until Jim Crow’s “bony wings started to ache. “His peck, peck, peck began to lose it’s point” as the Supreme Court struck down segregation laws. Wild whirls of Brian Pinkney’s oppressive blacks vanish and reveal the golden pride of those riding on the buses and blue skies of hope.
As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom by Richard Michelson, illustrated by Raul Colon (Knopf, $16.99, ages 8 and up)
King and Heschel grew up oceans apart, but both were raised by parents who believed “you are just as good as anybody!” Striking parallels appear throughout as when Heschel flees Poland and Hitler’s signs “No Jews Allowed Signs” and young Martin is sickened by “White’s Only” signs in the South. When Martin’s call for brotherhood came, who better to answer than a man who had fought prejudice and spoken of equality and justice most of his life? Raul Colon’s pictures illustrate postures and faces that embody the resolve and bond of these two men.
Yes We Can! A Salute to Children from President Obama’s Victory Speech (Scholastic, $4.99, ages 5-10). Yes, the speech was stirring, but Obama’s word swell in strength when paired with pictures of the President with children—children held on shoulders listening to him speak, a child fist bumping, babies in oversized Obama t-shirts, and the President reaching out to hold the hands of children in crowds. Inspiring words and portraits speak to future leaders about what they might achieve.