It Spoke Volumes For Her

One of many things history teaches us is the power of a single individual to make a significant impact.  This effect can ripple through a community, a state, a region, a country or the entire world.  It can be damaging or beneficial.  It can be temporary or lasting.  

Some names are more well-known than others; people like Elvis Presley, Pura Belpre, Stan Lee, John Lewis,  Zora Neale Hurston or Greta Thunberg.  Even if we think we know all we need to know about these individuals and their accomplishments, through the efforts of authors and illustrators collaborating on biographical picture books, we learn more.  The value of the work of these authors and illustrators cannot be stressed enough, especially when they introduce people who are unfamiliar to us.

For whatever reason these individuals are lesser known (to me), they did contribute to the betterment of life for residents on this planet.  How much did we know about Todd Bol, Ben Shahn, Teresa Carreno, Mary Walker, Helen Martini or Jadav Payeng before we read outstanding picture book biographies about them?  Their achievements are inspirational, far-reaching and enduring.  Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement (A Paula Wiseman Book, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, January 10, 2023) written by Sandra Neil Wallace with illustrations by Bryan Collier is a book vital to any discourse on the history of the Civil Rights Movement.  Although, Diane Nash was not given the same platform as her male counterparts at the same time, she was and is a woman powered by and empowered by love.

You arrive in the spring of 1938 on the South Side, when

Chicago's leaves unfurl, emerald green like your baby girl eyes.

CELEBRATION, JUBILATION. Your parents baptize beautiful, honey-brown you, Diane Judith Nash.

For the first four years of her life, she lives in a home her parents fill with love until World War II comes.  With her father in the army and her mother working all day, Grandmother Bolton comes from Tennessee to embrace this child in her special kind of affection.  When she attends high school, love sustains her as classmates from a variety of ethnic backgrounds sit around Diane.  It is not until she goes to Tennessee to stay with Grandmother Bolton to attend college that segregation is blatantly on display.

Signs in Nashville say WHITES ONLY and COLORED ONLY.  It is not right to not share a drinking fountain or a school or a lunch counter.  Diane Judith Nash, raised in love, knows something must be done but she refers to not get arrested. She and other students learn and practice peaceful persistence in church before classes.  

They calmly sit at lunch counters and their numbers grow through the winter months of February and March.  In April, Diane is ignited by an act of violence; she silently leads six thousand souls in a march to meet Mayor Ben West to desegregate the lunch counters in Nashville. Victory is theirs. The next focus for Diane is the Freedom Rides.  She is twenty-three years old.  

Pregnant with her first child, Diane Judith Nash faces time in a Mississippi jail for organizing student protests.  She does not post bail, but goes to jail for the sake of freedom and explains her actions in a letter to the world.  Her two year sentence lasts ten days, dismissed by the judge. Love wins.

Diane is not done.  She works tirelessly to make the Voting Rights Act a reality.  Wherever she can, whenever she can she believes in justice and peace forged from love.  She spreads her truth for fifty years.  On July 7, 2022 this remarkable woman is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to her by President Joe Biden.  She is eighty-four years young.

When you read what author Sandra Neil Wallace has written in this title, page turn by page turn a cadence grows.  She includes specific facts and quotations in her narrative to build and define the distinguished and formidable Diane Judith Nash. Within each section at least two words are capitalized and bolded.

These particular words are like roots or foundations from which the other thoughts grow and form. There is a poetic, almost musical, quality to them through rhyme, repetition, and alliteration.  Toward the end of the book, three 

Love is . . .

statements are repeated to create a powerful and exhilarating meter.  Here is a passage.

Seeing twenty-one-year-old you sit down with your pearls and your books shakes

the cooks and the waitress.  She breaks plate after plate as you wait to be served.

Inside, you shake too.  HANDS SWEATING, NEVER FORGETTING the danger,

the fear of being arrested for ordering a sandwich.

Your family is also afraid.  Of what can happen to you over lunch.  They worry

you've gotten in with the wrong bunch.

The open and matching dust jacket and book case first reveal a vibrant persona on the right side, the front.  Diane Judith Nash is looking straight ahead, focused on her goal.  The colors radiating from her are warm tones, reds, oranges, and yellows.  These are reflective of her beliefs that love is the way to win.  Love Is is varnished as is Diane Judith Nash.  The ray from her mouth is a glazed white with a bright red varnish on Loud.

To the left of the spine, on the back, are three visuals taken from the interior of the book.  They are shown to us in three different rays divided by a wide yellow border.  They show a progression of Diane's life, birth, her lunch counter sit-in, and her speech to secure voting rights.  In each of these Diane presents calmness with intention.

A rich orange red covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Artist Bryan Collier continues his use of rays like a megaphone on the title, verso and dedication pages adding a bold sky blue hue to the red, yellow and white.  His images rendered

in watercolor and collage

span two and single pages.  They are historically accurate in their depiction of clothing, interior design, buildings, fair grounds, and signage in Chicago and the southern states.

Readers cannot fail to notice the outstanding portraits of Diane Judith Nash in every setting.  Underlying her facial features, regardless of her current mood, is love.  We see it in her eyes and in her stance.  It is her North Star.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  On the left, Diane appears straight and tall at a lunch counter sit-in.  She is wearing a yellow V-neck sweater rimmed in cream with a green blouse.  A strand of pearls rests around her neck.  She is looking to the right.  There we see a scene which might have been at that moment or one of other moments during the sit-ins.  A waitress holding coffee pots is flinging plates.  Some of the customers are displaying anger.  The participants are calm and well-dressed.

Through the stirring, informative words of Sandra Neil Wallace and the equally informative and expressive artwork of Bryan Collier, Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement is a superior nonfiction picture book.  At the close of the book is an author's note and an illustrator's note.  There is an extensive time line, several sources to learn about Diane Nash from video interviews and books for young readers.  There is a page of quote sources and a selected bibliography.  This is an essential title for all your collections.  

To discover more about Sandra Neil Wallace and Bryan Collier and their other work, please visit their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Sandra Neil Wallace has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Bryan Collier has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At both the publisher's website and the website of Sandra Neil Wallace, you can view the book trailer.  At Sandra Neil Wallace's site is a link to a six-page curriculum guide.  At the publisher's website, you can view interior images including the open dust jacket.

Commemorating Their Contribution

If any individual's story ends in triumph, should we not cheer outwardly, or at the very least, inwardly for them?  Are we not glad for their success, whether they are known to us or not?  They might be someone from the past or present who spent or are spending time on this planet.  They might exist because of someone's imagination.  And if this individual is one of a group, a group bound together by history, culture, and resilience, we should exalt their accomplishments.

Each time All Because You Matter (Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., October 6, 2020) written by Tami Charles with illustrations by Bryan Collier is read, you find yourself saying in your heart of hearts, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"  You repeat that word of affirmation because of the truth and power in the words you've read and in the artwork you've seen.  This same collaborative team released the second book, We Are Here (Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., January 3, 2023), in this trio as our new calendar year started.  It is as compelling and eloquent as its predecessor.  

The journey of who we are

stretches beyond

   rivers,

      roads,

mountains high-fiving

blue skies.

This sentence is followed with a reminder that this is the way it has always been and always will be.  This unseen narrator speaks with joy and purpose.  They say as seeds our roots go deep, pulsing with potential.  That potential has been realized repeatedly in the achievements of others.

Their marks have been made in space exploration, building and music made with instruments and voices.  Those voices rang out on stages, steps, and in stadiums.  They still do.

This journey being taken is reflected in the array of food prepared, seasoned, and eaten.  Those walking on the path break barriers, heads held high at points around the world.  They are understood by all, talking in a universal language.  They march placing one foot in front of the other so no one is forgotten.  As long as your story is told, you will be remembered.

Even a condition that swept around the world, bringing everything to a standstill, did not stop these courageous people.  This child is told by this narrator that these courageous people did not stop because 

we have always been heroes.

Hold tight to your promise regardless of what others might say.  You are remarkable in every respect.  

The author's note by Tami Charles begins with this sentence.

For a long time, I have wanted to write something in honor of my daughter, whom I didn't get to meet.

Word by word, each rhythmic phrase builds something beautiful and . . . strong.  The voice in this narrative speaks to this beauty and strength created over time and seen in the determination of a people to be the best of the best.  The imagery fashioned by the words of Tami Charles are something to see with our eyes and hold close regardless of the ups and downs life has and will deliver.  A precious daughter has indeed been honored.  Here is another passage.

We are joy!

Igniting the world,

like stars caliente and bright,

like trumpets blaring at

midnight!

You hear that?

   Skit-skat-

      caddy-wack!

Even if you had not seen his name on the dust jacket and book case, you would know by looking at them the artwork is by Bryan Collier.  His color palette first seen on the matching and open jacket and case is rich like royalty.  See how the color of the text, the girl's headband and shirt contrast and complement the deep blue and purple hues.  The use of light and shadow is exquisite.

The opening and closing endpapers are a pattern of portions of row houses.  In the illustrator's note, Bryan Collier explains this choice.  The dedication, verso, and title pages use the sky and circular elements seen on the jacket and case as a background.

Rendered 

with collage and Winsor & Newton watercolor paint on 300lb. Arches watercolor paper,

these images each span one and one-half pages.  In many of the pictures, the child seen on the front, right side, of the jacket and case is featured.  She is shown with her family, very close to us so we see only a portion of her face, and we look, like a gliding bird, down on her as she builds something.

Subsequent illustrations highlight Black Americans showcased in the text.  Those row houses appear many times.  We see Bryan Collier's use of rays.  In four of the five final pictures, the girl returns.  Careful readers will see the balloon shown in the first picture appear again and again.  The artwork of Bryan Collier for this book lifts up the beauty and strength of the words until you want to shout it out loud.

One of my many favorite illustrations is the girl standing outside the home shown in the first picture of her with her family.  We are very close to her.  The upper portion of her body fills most of the space with the home and the vibrant blue and purple sky behind her.  She is leaning toward us.  Her lips are shaped to blow air toward the wand she holds in her right hand.  The wand has been dipped in a solution to make bubbles.  They float in front of her and to the right.

This book, We Are Here written by Tami Charles with artwork by Bryan Collier, is a song to be sung to Black children (to all children so all children will know).  You can sing it out loud like a choir or softly like a lullaby.  This is a heartwarming, inspirational, exhilarating, and hopeful title.  There are seven paragraphs at the close of the book dedicated to those honored in these pages.  There is a short glossary.  Be sure to read the author's note and illustrator's note.  You will want to share this often and widely by having it in your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Tami Charles and Bryan Collier and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Tami Charles has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Bryan Collier has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  

For The Children

In the first meeting with my first principal in my first school, something he said has stayed with me for more than four decades.  This was the first year for this principal in this building. He looked at an over-abundance of new staff seated around the conference table.  The first thing he said to us was "without the children, we would not need you."  He wanted us to know the students came first.  

For me, not only did students come first, but I tried to look at them and say, "What if this was my child?"  I wanted them to have every advantage, every opportunity, and every respect I had to offer.  This is why certain books move me deeply.  With every reading of All Because You Matter (Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc., October 6, 2020) written by Tami Charles with illustrations by Bryan Collier, I find tears welling in my eyes.  Every single child deserves to be enveloped with the love and positivity pouring from the pages of this book.

They say that matter

is all things

that make up the universe:

   energy

      stars,

         space . . .

If that's the case,

then you, dear child, matter.

The voice continues to tell the child how in a time before they were a hope, people were shaping a world to welcome this child.  In this world they used their strength, physical and mental, to benefit those who were not yet born.  Everything they did was for the future.

On the evening of the birth of this child stars signaled the worth of this birth and every moment that was to follow.  Moments were chronicled, moments like first steps, first words, and the opening of a first book.  The combination of all elements in this book were to lift him up.  But . . .

There will not always be affirmation in this world.  Your name, the way you dress, how you complete your schoolwork, and how you and others like you are viewed will have you questioning your value.  You will ponder.  You will doubt.

Then this precious child is reminded about those from whom he came.  He is reminded about the depth of their accomplishments and character.  He is reminded of the night he was born and how the stars shone.  He is reminded that since the beginning of the beginning he and a multitude of others before and after him have always mattered.

Every carefully chosen word of author Tami Charles works toward a loving whole.  She desires readers of this book to know they are important regardless of anything else they may see, hear, or read.  She, sentence by sentence, fashions a verbal representation of this truth.  By repeating specific words from the beginning of her narrative on the final pages she brings us full circle.  Here is a passage.

The words and pictures

coming together like

sweet jam on toast,

musica blasting through barrios,

sun in blue sky . . .

all because you matter.

How could you not love the child featured on the front of the open dust jacket?  Look at that beautiful face, so full of promise.  A collage of petals frame either side of him.  Illustrator Bryan Collier states in a note he begins with a single petal symbolizing a beginning and layers these to create blossoms.  You can see faces in some of them.  These depict those who have always believed you matter.

The collage of petals continues to the left of the spine, on the back of the dust jacket.  It makes a valley in the center of the page.  Across the starry sky, a single star streaks from left to right. 

On the book case an interior image is expanded.  It conveys a time when the child speculates on whether he will ever have value.  He thinks this as his Pop Pop prays for those children gone:

Trayvon,

Tamir,

Philando.

On the opening and closing endpapers the collage of petals in various hues of blue form a canvas.  They are replete with stars.  On the first a single star speeds from left to right on the right side.  On the second a moon hangs on the left side, a sliver beginning to show. Petals in a wallpaper pattern with blues and purple form a background for the verso and title pages.  

Each illustration

created with collage and Winsor & Newton watercolor paint on 300lb. Arches watercolor paper 

usually spanning two pages, with a portion left for a column for text, is a glorious representation and enhancement of the text.  The color palette is luminous.  The faces on the people are exquisite.  You expect them to walk off the pages.  Each element in these pictures is a meticulously placed piece.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is toward the beginning of the book.  The picture covers the entire left side, crosses the gutter and fills the left side of the right half.  The text appears on the wallpaper-textured right side.  The illustration features an African tribal chieftain with his left arm raised, fist clenched.  His face reflects calm, purpose, and strength.  Fanning to the left, above, and right of him are layers of petals, many of them have their tips folded down.  There are many patterns, colors, and people on them.  On the far left is a golden sky, hills, and pyramids.  On the right is the starry sky with the silver of moon.  

Thinking about this book, you cannot imagine a better pairing than this author and illustrator.  For All Because You Matter written by Tami Charles with artwork by Bryan Collier, each one of them painstakingly added words and brush strokes and collage to make this stunning book for children, their parents and other adults who hold them in great affection.  At the close of the book both Tami Charles and Bryan Collier include notes for readers.  This book comes with my highest recommendation for your personal and professional collections.  (I am adding my accolades to many others, professional and personal.)

To learn more about Tami Charles and Bryan Collier and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their respective web sites.  Tami Charles has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.  Bryan Collier has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images and read the notes found at the end of the book.  On the Scholastic blog there is more from Tami Charles you might enjoy.  At Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's site, Watch. Connect. Read., Tami Charles and Bryan Collier talk about this book.  This book and Tami Charles are featured on The Children's Book Podcast with teacher librarian Matthew Winner.  At We Need Diverse Books the book trailer is premiered.  Tami Charles and Bryan Collier are also guests at Politics and Prose Bookstore.

Defending Your Passion

Some people demonstrate a talent early in their lives for what will become their life's work, though it's rarely a straight path.  For too many the trail is fraught with major obstructions, obstructions sometimes decades in the making.  Whether it's of their own choosing or not, a detour is offered and taken.

In fact, this detour seems to be in direct opposition to the earlier displayed ability.  Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery (A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, January 28, 2018) written by Sandra Neil Wallace with illustrations by Bryan Collier (Hey Black Child Little, Brown And Company, November 14, 2017) describes the remarkable story of a childhood longing realized through perseverance.  If you hold onto a dream with both hands, you'll have a better chance of making it come true.  This is what Ernie Barnes did.

ERNEST LOVED THE NORTH CAROLINA RAIN.
He waited for the backyard to turn into mud.
Painting mud.  Then Ernest found a stick and painted in the slippery soil.

Believe me, this grabbed ahold of his neighbors' curiosity.  It also garnered the attention of his mother.  She worked as a housekeeper for Mr. Fuller, an attorney in Durham's white section.  When Ernest saw the artwork on the walls of Mr. Fuller's library he knew painting was what he wanted to do.

By the time he was thirteen Ernest was carrying a sketchbook and drawing what he saw in the neighborhood.  Even though the coach at Hillside High wanted him to play football, Ernest wanted to use his hands for making art.  This coach got his way and Ernest became a star player earning him scholarships to more than twenty colleges.  At North Carolina College near Hillside High Ernest studied football and art.

When he wondered what to paint his teacher helped him to focus.

"Art is all around you," Mr. Wilson told Ernest.  "Use what you see.  You catch my drift?"

Ernest was drafted to play professional football in 1959.  After watching the Baltimore Colts play, Ernest went home and painted.  He named it The Bench. Ernest was named Ernie by a news reporter after seeing The Bench which he carried everywhere.  Ernie moved from the Colts to the New American Football League that first year but was cut due to an injury.

Ernie kept his desire to paint alive by working as a door to door salesman and chatting with his customers.  When his hand healed he started to play again but this time he took a sketch pad (small) and pencil with him.  The coach did not appreciate this and fined him.  Did Ernie stop sketching? No, he did not.

By 1964 Ernie knew football needed to be replaced with painting full time.  Ernie's plan for success was a marvel.  He never forgot where he started as evidenced by how he framed his work.  His accomplishments are a beacon and an inspiration for us all but certainly for the children who view his work and read this book.


Sharing pertinent details with readers found through her painstaking research, Sandra Neil Wallace takes us into the world of Ernie Barnes's childhood, teen years, college and adulthood.  With each page turn, by selecting and placing direct quotations within her narrative, Sandra Neil Wallace increases our understanding of this man.  Her carefully chosen words breathe life into every depicted situation.  It's as if we are there with Ernie Barnes.  Here is a passage.

Back home the sideline images still swirled in Ernest's mind.  Jersey numbers, bruising cobalt blue.  Referee calls, roaring crimson red.  Sharp shoulders draped in goalpost white.  Everything was so clear that Ernest didn't draw it in his sketchbook.  He stretched out a canvas, reached for a palette knife, and painted.  Quickly. Before the image had disappeared from his mind, he'd created his first football painting.  He called it The Bench.  Ernest decided that he'd never part with it.


Those piercing, sincere eyes of Ernie Barnes looking right at readers surely get your attention.  Upon closer inspection of the matching, opened dust jacket and book case, you can see portions of his life and his framed art above his left and right shoulders.  To the left, on the back, framed in wooden fencing on the top and bottom is a close-up of Ernie's hands holding paint brushes in front of stretched canvases.  In the right-hand, lower corner is a yellow football helmet resting on its top.

The opening and closing endpapers are a lively, spring green.  With the first turn of the pages we come to the initial title page.  Now those paint brushes are being held together inside the helmet.  The fencing is used as a background here and on the formal title and verso pages for the text.

Eighteen moving, stunning illustrations spanning two pages each, rendered in watercolor and collage by Bryan Collier, envelope you in the life of Ernie Barnes.  It's like walking through a gallery, hushed voices speaking in admiration at what is revealed.  Bryan Collier's color choices and his perspectives represent and elevate each scene described by Sandra Neil Wallace.  With his placement of the elements in his illustrations we are drawn to a focal point.

Mr. Collier's use of light and shadow is excellent, especially in the facial features of the people.  Each picture is emotionally charged.  We feel longing, desire, acceptance, determination, understanding and victory.  We are uplifted.

One of my many favorite illustrations is when Ernest returns home after viewing the Colts game prior to the beginning of training.  It is a brilliant blend of the stadium filled with people, players moving and bending with each play like ballet dancers, and a referee standing guard.  Within this collage Bryan Collier has put Ernest on the right, his hands outstretched holding a canvas and palette.  His right elbow crosses the gutter.  It's a mix of artistic calm and measured tumult.


You will be unable to read Between the Lines:  How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery written by Sandra Neil Wallace with illustrations by Bryan Collier only once.  It invites you to revisit each page absorbing the truth of the words and the beauty of the illustrations.  I highly recommend this outstanding picture book biography for your professional and personal collections.  At the close of the book are an author's note, an illustrator's note, an extensive bibliography, quote sources and additional resources.

To learn more about Sandra Neil Wallace and Bryan Collier and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  At the publisher's website you can view six interior illustrations. Please enjoy this video with Bryan Collier speaking about the process for this book.



Don't miss visiting Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher, this past week.  There you can view the other titles selected by those participating in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Do You Know . . .

There are books which fill readers with a surge of joy, welling up inside us and growing stronger with each page turn.  There are books you want to read aloud and alone standing in a grassy meadow at the top of a hill you navigate with difficulty.  There are books you wish to share in a sanctuary filled with people, reading each phrase slowly with purpose so those gathered together can feel the power of those words.

There are books brimming with glorious illustrations, lifting the narrative to new heights.  There are books with colors, patterns, light and shadow carefully pieced and placed together, singing off the page like a melody straight from the creator's soul to our hearts.  There are books with words and images complementing each other in such excellence they are engraved in our memories.  Hey Black Child (Little, Brown And Company, November 14, 2017) written by Useni Eugene Perkins with illustrations by Bryan Collier is all of those books.

Hey Black Child

Do you know who you are

Who you REALLY ARE

You have potential to unlock all your dreams. Each time you try to follow those dreams, you are much closer to making them come true.  Listen.

There is a path for each one of you to follow.  It was started before you were born.  It is growing and changing.  As you travel lessons are presented to you.  When you endeavor to learn those lessons, you come closer to what you want.  Listen.

There is strength inside each of you regardless of your physical size.  You need to build on this strength.  It will support you, this inner power, in all you do.  Listen.

Children are encouraged to lift up their potential, take strides down the path and use the power each one has inside to accomplish everything they want to be and can be.  By doing these things and maintaining focus, the nation in which they live, will be a place of their design.  Listen.  

When read for the first time, the poem written by Useni Eugene Perkins urges you to read it again.  The words when read silently are indeed commanding but when read aloud they resonate long after they are uttered.  The repetition of the opening words ties each portion together with a call, a request to listen.

For these portions Useni Eugene Perkins forms the initial phrases as a question.   He then follows with another series of phrases which are part question but are mostly affirmations containing the promise of wonderful accomplishments to come in the future.  These portions are connected to the concluding words by emphasizing the central thought in each section as a statement.

Upon opening, unfolding, the dust jacket for Hey Black Child you are immediately captivated by the radiant beauty and heartfelt happiness on each child's face.  The blue rays, solid and patterned, are carried to the left, on the back of the jacket.  (I am working with an F & G.  My copy of the finished book is arriving tomorrow.)  The use of primary colors is continued on the back with the boy wearing a blue shirt and the girl wearing a top of blended primary and secondary colored dots.  Two balloons, one a larger yellow, with a smudge of red, and one red, smaller in size, float above the two children.  On a yellow spine, the four children are featured above and below the title text.

On a canvas of pale, washed blue, balloons in hues of green, yellow, blue, red, and orange drift on the opening and closing endpapers.  A much lighter version of the dust jacket background spans the two pages for the title.  Two of the children, a boy with his back to us and holding a paint brush as if he has painted the letters and a girl, thoughtfully gazing downward, holding her arms as if in a dance movement, are placed with three balloons moving off the pages.

These illustrations rendered 

in watercolor and collage on 400-pound Arches watercolor paper

and each covering two pages, edge to edge, are stunning.  The four children are featured from varying points of view.  In the greeting we are brought close to their luminous faces.  With a page turn past or current events serve as a link to the present.  In a subtle shift the future for each is shown leading to the conclusion.

Rays of light and balloons figure prominently in most of the images.  Bryan Collier has supplied an artistic bridge from one picture to the next; the boy is painting the girl dancing, the dancer plays a piano moving into the boy among trophies of people holding significant signs and then to a little girl with a telescope.  This illustration is when the present, a child, is shown in another child's future.  The final picture is full of hope and inspiration, a hand reaching upward, rays bursting among real children and past events.  

One of my many favorite illustrations is the first one.  On the left a collage of balloons rises from the bottom of the page.  Behind one of them the face of an African man, wearing traditional clothing, looks at us.  To the right on a pieced background of fabric or wallpaper is the first child, a boy.  His face covers most of the page.  You can see the bottom portion of a crown he is wearing.  His face, oh his beautiful face, is so full of joy you can feel tears of sheer happiness spring to your eyes.  The energy in this visual will lift you up.  

This book, Hey Black Child written by Useni Eugene Perkins with illustrations by Coretta Scott King Award winner and Caldecott Honoree Bryan Collier, is a title you will want to be a part of your professional and personal collections.  If happiness, hope, faith and love could be held in your hands, this book is the means.  In an Author's Note Useni Eugene Perkins speaks about this poem originally written in 1975 and its impact.  Bryan Collier has written an Illustrator's Note about what he hopes his art brings to the words written by Perkins.

To learn more about Useni Eugene Perkins I discovered an older interview at The History Makers.  At School Library Journal read Useni Eugene Perkins On Adapting His Iconic Poem into Picture Book Form.  To discover more about Bryan Collier and his other work please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  In 2013 Bryan Collier is interviewed at School Library Journal by Rocco Staino.  At Reading Rockets Bryan Collier speaks in a series of videos.  You are going to enjoy this video with Bryan Collier talking about Hey Black Child.

Book Chat with the Illustrator: Bryan Collier on Hey Black Child from LB School on Vimeo.

Living In Music

Growing up in a small town in a small house, five rooms, did not mean we were small on music.  We had one of those big radio-record player units in a cabinet in our living room, front and center, circa no television.  My parents loved most kinds of music.  I still recall a favorite, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, and lots of big band tunes.  The music of George Gershwin was popular, especially Rhapsody in Blue.  The haunting beginning is what convinced me to pursuit playing the clarinet in the junior and high school bands.

Money was tight but my parents found a second-hand clarinet which served me well for all those years.  When it comes to making music or even listening to it, true hearts will find a way.  Trombone Shorty (Abrams Books For Young Readers, April 14, 2015) written by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews with pictures by Bryan Collier is about keeping a dream alive and those who lift us closer to its realization.

WHERE Y'AT?
WHERE Y'AT?
We have our own way of living down here in New Orleans, and our own way of talking, too.

After bidding readers hello, Troy Andrews asks us to go back to the beginning to understand how he came to be given the nickname of Trombone Shorty.  Music was and is important to him because it was and is important to his community.  You cannot walk the streets of Treme anytime without hearing melodies surrounding you like a welcome breeze.

His older brother, James, played trumpet in his own band.  Troy and his friends imagined themselves in this band too.

"FOLLOW ME,"
James would say.

During Mardi Gras, a festive time of celebration with the sounds of the brass bands, Troy was mesmerized.  Those parades lifted the spirits of everyone.  This boy's mind likened the kind of music he wanted to make to those foods most enjoyed by the people of Treme; a little bit of everything blended to perfection.

While it was difficult to have a band without instruments, Troy and his companions designed their own and used them until one very special day.  Troy found an old discarded trombone.  He blew music out of that metal.  It was much bigger in size than he was; so much so that James shouted out his nickname

"TROMBONE SHORTY!"

Wherever Troy went, the trombone went too, even in his bed at night.  It went with him to a special event, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.  It was here that a world-renowned musician noticed the boy, inviting him to play on the center stage.  That event was all Trombone Shorty needed to validate what he already knew to be true.


Page after page, reading the words written by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, readers hear a note played in their hearts grow into a loud, glorious tune.  The beat of New Orleans and Treme music is captured with the use of language in the narrative.  It's the vivid descriptions of the places and the people and the sounds of both which create a song of this man's life; soft and slow, loud and fast and pauses.  Here is another sample passage.

But before you can understand how much music means to me, you have to know how important it is to my hometown, my greatest inspiration.
I grew up in a neighborhood in New Orleans called Treme.  Any time of day or night, you could hear music floating in the air.


Rendered in pen and ink, watercolor, and collage the illustrations on the dust jacket, book case and the interior pages are beautifully brilliant.  It's as if Bryan Collier has woven Trombone Shorty's musical magic into his illustrations. The sound from his trombone shouts out from the front of the dust jacket.  To the left, on the back, Troy and his friends are featured with their home-made instruments and the newly discovered broken trombone.  You will not be able to resist reaching out to touch the texture here and on every page.  The book case shifts from the jacket's rich, warm hues to cool, calm and classic colors.  Each of the four different images can be found inside the book.

The endpapers appear as two-tone gold marbleized paper.  Beneath the bold text on the title page is a close-up of Trombone Shorty as a child playing his trombone.  Each two pages is a masterful exhibit of design and layout.  We are given panels, interplay of shadow and light to distinguish different places; street views intermingled with interior views, and symbolic balloons.

I have many favorite illustrations but one which portrays the dedication of Troy Andrews is him sleeping with his trombone.  The pages are a fusion of blues, patterns, swirls, books, a bed, a boy and his beloved musical instrument.  It's a blissful scene but also depicts dedication in its purest form.


Trombone Shorty written by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews with pictures by Bryan Collier is worthy of standing ovation after standing ovation.  It's a nonfiction picture book triumph from beginning to end.  Readers can see how holding onto a dream and receiving support can make it a reality.  An Author's Note with black and white photographs is part of the concluding back matter.  There are extensive Acknowledgments and information About The Trombone Shorty Foundation.  Bryan Collier has also included a valuable Illustrator's Note. 

The link attached to Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews' name takes you to his official music web pages.  For more information about Bryan Collier please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  TeachingBooks.net offers a pronunciation of Bryan Collier's name.  Bryan Collier and this title are featured by author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  A series of video interviews of Bryan Collier can be found at ReadingRockets.  In a May 1, 2013 interview at School Library Journal Bryan Collier was highlighted.  Enjoy the book trailer.



Every week I am excited to continue participating in the 2015 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by educator Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy.  I am anxious to see her and the other bloggers choices each week.  I hope you stop by there too.

A Song And The Freedoms It Fueled

We know words are powerful whether written or spoken.  Dictionary definitions, the context in which they are used, the emotion in the voice of the speaker, shared and individual experiences all contribute to their potential effect.  When a melody is attached their capacity to bring about change, champion a cause, or unify a nation knows no limits.

Unless you were alive in 1831 it's probably hard to pinpoint when America, words penned by Samuel Francis Smith, was assimilated into your mind's cultural repertoire.  It stands to reason it was probably first heard in an elementary school music class.  For other individual groups throughout history it gave voice to their beliefs.  My Country 'Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights (Henry Holt and Company) written by Claire Rudolf Murphy with illustrations by Bryan Collier explores the value of a single song; its place on the timeline of change in the United States.

More than any other, one song traces America's history of patriotism and protest.

On the other side of the Atlantic, another set of words was assigned to the tune of God Save The King back when men were fighting to acquire supreme power in Britain.  Verses were added to reflect the victories in these battles.  As British colonists settled in America, the song followed.

A brave preacher, George Whitefield, spoke of freedom for all men.  Revolutionaries sang out a call to arms and a wish for victory.  On Inauguration Day in 1780 for George Washington words proclaimed praise, joy, and glory.

Despite calling for inclusion women did not share in the same freedoms as some men; an unnamed female author penned a verse of objection.  Fourth of July celebrations came and went but our nation had no anthem.  Samuel Francis Smith wrote four verses to be sung in 1831 by a church choir in Boston.  Regardless of his efforts, America was not chosen based on the tune's historical origins.

Slaves sang their own words.  Union soldiers sang their own words.  Confederate soldiers sang their own words.  Verses of jubilation shook the leaves on the trees when the Civil War ended.  

Conditions for workers needed to improve, immigrants were required to learn the patriotic words of the Smith song, women sought the right to vote, and a Native American poet challenged their disassociation as alterations were made and added citing the disparity in the original song's lines.  The Lincoln Memorial provided the backdrop for Marian Anderson's important modifications to the song in 1939 and again in 1963 when Martin Luther King delivered his I Have A Dream speech using a portion of the verses.  Yes...this song is a true reflection of all people seeking the same freedoms especially on the day Aretha Franklin sang it out loud and clear at President Barack Obama's inauguration.

Readers will be interested in the factual presentation of information meticulously researched and available to read in this title.  For each two pages Claire Rudolf Murphy includes a brief explanatory paragraph, the lines of the changed verse and a concluding commentary sentence.  What she chooses to include makes you unable to put the book down until you've read it cover to cover.  This is no dry display of facts but the careful peeling back of layers covering the true significance of this song.

Rendered in watercolor and collage Bryan Collier's illustrations lift each and every event from the annals of history into the present day.  Enhancing two pages of the dust jacket fireworks, the moving flag, a silhouette of a ship moving through clouds, President George Washington and thumbnails of portions of illustrations from within the title proclaim the book's contents.  The exquisite artwork portraying Aretha Franklin singing in front of an American flag graces the book case.  Collier uses people from the crowd among the white stripes. Opening and closing endpapers showcase four verses of the Samuel Francis Smith song in two different visuals.

Each picture radiantly portrays the text elevating it to the point readers feel as though they can step into each scene.  It's like walking through a museum of paintings with carefully placed pieces; each element of the design is critical to the overall effect.  Small oval portraits of King George and Prince Charles are placed over a large antique clock face, an anonymous woman is superimposed on a recreation of the signers of the Constitution, real photographs of girl's faces appear in two different illustrations, and protest signs are mixed in with rows of crops being worked by laborers. 

One of my favorite illustrations is of the depiction of the verses sung by the Union and Confederate soldiers.  A tent stretches out from the gutter.  On the inside folds we see soldiers from both sides fighting.  Worded documents appear on the underside of the folds along the bottom.  Off to the left slaves toil in the cotton fields. 

Not only is My Country 'Tis of Thee:  How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights written by Claire Rudolf Murphy with illustrations by Bryan Collier a stunning picture book title for younger readers but any reader.  I would not hesitate to recommend this book for any person to read.  I guarantee everyone will learn something new.  Source notes, a bibliography, and further resources are included at the back of the book.

For more information about Claire Rudolf Murphy and Bryan Collier please follow the links embedded in their names above to access their websites.  Claire Rudolf Murphy is challenging readers to submit new verses in a contest.  Here is a link to the publisher's website to view images from the book.  This links to an interview of Claire Rudolf Murphy in the The Spokesman-Review.  TeachingBooks.net has additional resources on both Murphy and Collier.  Reading Rockets has a video interview of Bryan Collier.

Please follow this link to Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by Alyson Beecher to see what other titles bloggers have listed as they participate in the 2014 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.