A Life Story-A Life Of Stories

Every time we hear the story of a person's life, our life story is enriched.  Our connection to the world as a whole is enlarged.  Our understanding of people and the places and events in their lives is better informed.  Their history becomes a part of our history.  

There are people who quietly change the world significantly.  Fortunately, we are made aware of their purpose through the adept work of children's authors and illustrators.  William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad (Peachtree Publishing Company Inc., November 1, 2020) written and illustrated by Don Tate engages readers through a meticulously researched narrative and atmospheric, dramatic, and realistic illustrations. 

 

This story begins

at a time when the United States

was split in two.

In the North,

Black people were free.

In the South,

they were enslaved by whites.

Parents, Levin and Sidney Steel, were held in slavery in Maryland.  They had four children.  Levin purchased his freedom and left.  Sidney, ran away with her two daughters, leaving her sons.  (Can you imagine the heartache of the choices these parents made?)

Levin and Sidney found each other in the woods of New Jersey and managed through a great deal of hardship to survive.  Their youngest child, of now fifteen, was born in 1821.  They gave him the name of William.

Early in his life, at eight years of age, William was known in his neighborhood as one to be trusted and as one who would always lend a helping hand.  Life in the North, however free it was, was never easy for a Black man or woman.  William was seventeen before he could attend school safely.  At twenty-three, William went to Philadelphia.  Life there for three years was miserable, hard work, barely enough to eat and no home. 

It was when William went to work for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society as a clerk that his life changed for the better.  Although his pay was meager, William became office manager through his diligence and hard work.  His home became a stop on the Underground Railroad.  William spoke with the visitors who stopped at his station.  One man, who was enslaved for 40 years, told a story which would change many lives.

This man's story prompted William to start keeping a written record of all the stories.  He wrote down the escaped slaves' names, their physical characteristics, who enslaved them, where they lived, and where they wanted to go.  His work inside and outside of the Society increased but was put in danger by the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

William Still protected his written journals with a clever plan.  After fourteen years at the Society, he left to become one of the most prominent businessmen of his time.  He continued to work for the betterment of Black people and their rights with several achievements. His book, The Underground Rail Road was published in 1872. 

Gripping, heartbreaking, and triumphant are words to use when describing this narrative penned by Don Tate.  The truth of William's life and of the lives around him are told in detail with specific incidents in support of those truths.  When Don Tate tells the story of this man's life it is more vivid through his use of language.  He speaks with the words of a storyteller, bringing us deep into the account.  Here is a passage.

First things first:

he needed a job, and a roof over his head.

Neither came readily.

For three long years,

William bounced

from low-paying job,

to low-paying job.

He threshed clamshells.

Hauled wood. Laid bricks.

He peddled oysters.

Dug wells. Hawked clothes.

He worked on a dock, then at a hotel.

Barely earning the smell of money.

Long, cold winters.  Grumbling belly.

No decent place to lay his head.

Not as glamorous

as the life he had imagined.

[I am working with an F & G]

Purple has long been a color representative of positive connotations.  By using it as the background on the front and back of the open dust jacket, this elevates the importance of Will Still's life to its rightful importance.  The design choice of having the figures of those lives William Still is recording in his book behind him is powerful.  William did this by hand with a quill dipped in ink.  He often wrote by candlelight.  To the left, on the back, an incident which changed the course of William's life is portrayed.  The words above this image read:

That's what stories can do.

Protest injustice.

Soothe. Teach. Inspire. Connect.

Stories save lives. 

Many of the elements on the front and the back are varnished.

On the opening and closing endpapers are enlarged representations of pages from William's journal.  On the second set of endpapers, at the conclusion, Don Tate has interpretated the writing for us.  Over each handwritten line is a typed line of what William said.  On the initial title page three individuals stand to the left of William as he writes in his journal.  On the formal title page beneath the text is a quill and ink well.

Each illustration,

rendered digitally

spans two page, a full page, or a page and one half creating a column for text.  Sometimes a smaller image will be placed in those columns containing text.  Don Tate for the sake of visual interpretation will break frames for artistic flow.  At one point a smaller picture is placed within a large one for a compelling depiction.  At every portion of William Still's life, Don Tate creates expressive moments, moments leaving a mark on your heart.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is one where eight-year-old William is shown leading a beaten, elderly man through the nearby woods at night.  This illustrations spans one-and-one-half pages.  To the left of the gutter, high on a hill, two slave hunters with a light seek the escaped slave.  To the right of the gutter, among the trees, William grasping the man's left hand, guides him.  The man is bent and hardly able to walk, but William, though barefoot like the man, is certain of their destination.  The tenseness of these moments is visible.  Darkness and light pair perfectly.

Readers will find themselves completely enthralled by this man's accomplishments when reading William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad written and illustrated by Don Tate.  At the close of the book is a The Life and Times of William Tell timeline, an Author's Note, and an informative three-part bibliography.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Don Tate and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Don Tate has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube.  At the publisher's website is an excerpt, teacher's guide, and a poster.  Don Tate chats with Nick Patton at Picturebooking.  Please enjoy the video.

The Will To Build

When you're short (five feet, one inch as an adult) you grow up hearing your dad say, "She's little but she's wiry."  Hearing the pride in his voice made me try harder at everything I did.  It wasn't until my late twenties (high school sports for girls consisted of the Girls Athletic Association and Title IX was not a reality until I had nearly finished college) when I started to pursue competitive running.  In high school I was a huge fan of the sport, attending the boys' track meets.  As a teacher librarian I've not only attended my schools' track meets, but volunteered to act as the official announcer and score keeper.

To be a runner height is not as critical as it is in other sports.  Running is something you can build upon every single day even if you start out walking, then fast walking, jogging and then running.  When you finally place in a race or beat your personal best time, the thrill is immeasurable.  Author illustrator Don Tate's newest title, Strong As Sandow: How Eugen Sandow Became the Strongest Man on Earth (Charlesbridge, August 22, 2017) chronicles the life of a remarkable man, who filled with determination, worked and trained and shared his passion and knowledge with others. He, like so many of us, started out small.

In his day, Eugen Sandow was known as "the Strongest Man on Earth."  He could break metal chains by expanding his broad chest.  

Each feat was more incredible than the previous undertaking.  If you start at the beginning though, this was not always true for Friedrich Wilhelm Muller, his birth name.  Friedrich was sick, thin and unable to participate in neighborhood games.

His love of sports pushed him to keep trying.  His successes, academically, earned him a trip to Italy.  It was there where he first saw statues of ancient athletes.  They became his inspiration to exercise more.  And he did but it did not work...at first.

It was when he left the university to join the circus as an acrobat that the exercise began to shape his muscles.  From the circus he found himself modeling for art students.  One of them arranged for Friedrich to meet

Professor Attila, a professional strongman.

This introduction changed Friedrich's life.

In 1889 Friedrich, now calling himself Eugen Sandow, answered a challenge, setting forth all he had learned about being a professional strongman, including showmanship.  The results of this challenge brought his name into the limelight.  From performances in the United Kingdom he crossed the Atlantic to make a name for himself in the United States.  Everywhere he went crowds were dazzled by his deeds.

His shows did take a toll on Eugen until he returned home to heal but that did not stop this man.  He continued to be an advocate for maintaining a healthy body through exercise and eating nutritious meals.  His crowning achievement in 1901, along with many of his ideas and practices on bodybuilding, are still used and respected today.


Even after reading this title penned by Don Tate several times readers will feel through his word choices and sentences a growing sense of excitement.  Don breaks Eugen Sandow's life into sections, like chapters, naming a geographical place with a date or span of dates.  It's as if we are charting this man's path to success.

Each of these sections focuses on one or more events contributing to Eugen's life choices.  They are like his exercises, building toward something better, something greater.  Here is a sample passage.

The Big Challenge
London, 1889
Sampson and Cyclops were the greatest professional strongmen
of their time.  They were brawny.  They were brutes.  They were
loudmouthed, muscle-bound lunks!  Sampson and Cyclops lifted
horses and elephants as though they were as light as feathers.

Each night after their act in London, they roared out a
challenge to the audience:  they dared anyone to try to defeat
them in a competition of strength.  But who would accept such a
foolish challenge?

Eugen Sandow, that's who.


On the opened dust jacket and book case Don Tate shows readers the great strides this extraordinary man made in his life.  Using red with radiating rays, light and shadow he draws our attention to the man Eugen Sandow became.  To the left, on the back, on a background of yellow with a spotlight effect on a circular image we see Friedrich as a youth struggling to lift barbells.

The opening and closing endpapers in shades of brown highlight the performance feats of Eugen Sandow.  There are nine altogether.  It's astonishing what he was able to do.  On the title page the highly prized Sandow statuette is showcased.

Rendered digitally using Manga Studio all of the illustrations except for six single page pictures extend across two pages.  In many of these visual displays the perspective shifts from one side to the other.  This serves to include readers as participants in the depiction.

The portrayal of the people shows them all fully animated with facial expressions conveying a variety of moods.  With each page turn you find yourself stopping and looking to see what details Don Tate includes to represent an accurate time and place; the hoop rolling of children, the playing of violins during a circus act, the hats worn by men and women and the attire of the strongmen.  The text for the beginning of each section is intricately framed.

One of my many favorite illustrations is for The Big Challenge.  In the foreground along the bottom are a row of spectators who have watched the show presented by Sampson and Cyclops.  On the far right with a shy grin on his face is Sandow, carefully raising a hand.  He is wearing a top hat and suit.  On the left, on a stage with a patterned curtain in a rose color behind them, stand Sampson and Cyclops.  There are weights lined up on either side of them.  They are both wearing scowls on their faces.  Their costumes and boots are indicative of the times.  The air crackles with anticipation, especially considering what follows over the next two pages.


We need picture book biographies like Strong As Sandow: How Eugen Sandow Became the Strongest Man on Earth written and illustrated by Don Tate.  They inform us about distinctive people who made a lasting contribution to human history.  They inspire us to never give up on our heart's desire.  In the Afterword we are provided with more information about Eugen Sandow.  It is followed by Life Is Movement, four exercises you can do at home.  In an Author's Note Don Tate addresses his own journey in bodybuilding and how he chose to write about Eugen Sandow.  A bibliography, acknowledgements and quotation sources are included.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal bookshelves.

To discover more about Don Tate and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  At the publisher's website you can view the first two page illustration.  A website for this specific title has been created.  It is brimming with information about research and process.  Don Tate visits Watch. Connect. Read., the blog of Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher.  In addition to a Q & A and sentence completions, you have to watch the two videos.

You will enjoy visiting Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected by participants in the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Wet, Wild And Wonderful

Water fights with my dad were epic. They all started innocently enough with squirt guns; someone getting a tad bit wet when they least expected it.  Then the strategy started as the game escalated.   The squirt guns were abandoned.  There were only two outside faucets which needed to be accessed for the filling of pails or buckets.  After that round of water wildness, when we were all nearly drenched, my dad would wait for one of us to round the house and then everything went crazy when he started using the hose.

In 1990 the first Super Soaker was sold.  Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions (Charlesbridge, May 3, 2016) written by Chris Barton with illustrations by Don Tate is an uplifting story of stick-to-itiveness and ingenuity.  My dad would have loved this toy and those epic water fights would have been magnificent. 

Every day brought a challenge for young Lonnie Johnson---the challenge of finding space for his stuff.

Lonnie Johnson was a thinker, an inventor and a doer which is hard to be in a small home with five other siblings.  He could take discarded bits and pieces and create a whole new something.  He had a passion for building just about anything but rockets were a favorite.  His father and mother supported him in any endeavor, even when his rocket fuel making burst into flames in their kitchen.

This boy dreamt of being an engineer.  Even though a test said this would not be a good career choice, Lonnie did not give up on his goal.  He worked for years to build a robot which might take a prize in a science fair.  Guess what a robot named Linex accomplished for Lonnie and his team in 1968?

At Tuskegee University Lonnie's gifts were noticed and his extra work earned him an engineering degree.  It was Lonnie Johnson who devised a system to keep the Galileo, the unmanned craft sent to study Jupiter, working at full capacity even if it lost power.  One day when Lonnie was exploring another way to keep the cooling portion of refrigerators and air conditioners working without the use of R-12, he made a surprising and rather fun discovery.  Right in his own bathroom, he felt and saw the first whoosh of air and water.

With his wonderful mind he fashioned a first, weird-looking but highly efficient water pistol.  When he tried it out at a picnic people couldn't believe how super it was.  It took years and years of highs and lows and never-let-go of your dream moments but Lonnie Johnson finally found a company, Larami, who agreed to make his toy.  (In the second year on the market 20 million Super Soakers were sold.)  From his success and the monetary results Lonnie Johnson built his best workshop yet. He's still dreaming.  He's still inventing.  He's still making a difference. 

Every time you read the story of Lonnie Johnson's life as told by Chris Barton you can feel your creative embers burst into flame.  You can't help but sense excitement in knowing how hard work, persistence and believing in yourself overcame challenges which might have defeated other individuals. Barton focuses on those moments in Johnson's life which will connect with his intended audience.

He presents Johnson's story in an easy relaxed style.  Descriptions of the specific parts Lonnie used to make his robot are sure to generate thinking; inspire "I wonder" and "what-if".  His repetition of just keep on flowing supplies a consistency and cadence. Here are two connecting sample passages.

Lonnie sometimes studied right in the middle of his own parties.  The extra studying paid off.  He became an engineer after graduation, and that took him beyond Alabama---way beyond.

When NASA was sending an orbiter and probe called Galileo to Jupiter, the space agency needed to ensure a constant supply of power to the orbiter's computer memory. The engineer who had to figure out how to do it was Lonnie.  

Rendered digitally using Manga Studio all the illustrations by Don Tate, beginning on his matching dust jacket and book case, are full of life, giving readers a true sense of a time period and the personality of Lonnie Johnson.  It's a brilliant layout on the front with the stream of air and water dividing a younger Johnson from the man who made the Super Soaker.  You can't help but smile at this genius of this boy and this man. On the back, to the left, an interior image shows the younger Johnson in full concentration working on one of his inventions.  On the opening and closing endpapers Tate has drawn representations of Lonnie's inventions (five different ones on each endpaper) labeled and numbered as blueprints. 

The verso and first pages hold the first two-page illustration of Lonnie's neighborhood with him leaning out a window in his home, demonstrating the lack of space for all his inventions.  Tate alternates his image sizes to generate a pleasing flow with the narrative.  His perspectives shift also to place emphasis on a particular potion of the story.  The clothing styles, architecture and items in each scene are in keeping with an era.  In a brilliant design moment Tate fashions a gatefold turning one word into another actually uttered at a demonstration.

One of my favorite illustrations (of many) is when Lonnie Johnson is working on his cooling project trying out a theory in his home bathroom. When the air and water whoosh across the room causing the curtains to billow, the look on his face is priceless.  It's one of those happy "yikes" moments leading to the next invention.  The sink with the separate faucets, clawed tub, toilet, waste basket, pull cord lamp for light, toothbrush holder on the wall and the rugs give a realistic vision to readers.   

Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions written by Chris Barton with illustrations by Don Tate is a stellar biographical picture book.  Regardless of their age readers will appreciate this man's success and admire his attitude.  Knowing Lonnie Johnson continues to pursue his passions to this day makes this book all the more powerful.  

To learn more about Chris Barton and Don Tate please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Both Barton and Tate maintain blogs which you can access from their websites. These blogs contain posts about this book.  You can view my favorite illustration at the publisher's website.  Chris Barton chats about this book at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  Don Tate speaks about this title at the Highlights Foundation website.  You might enjoy reading these two articles about Lonnie Johnson at BBC News Magazine and Mental_Floss.

@Everywoman98 I begin with thumbnail sketches. And I go through many more thumbnails before I get to the sketching..#SharpSchu pic.twitter.com/vTHMH4srXE

— Don Tate (@Devas_T) December 16, 2016

Make sure you visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to enjoy the titles selected by the other bloggers participating in the 2016 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Wordsmith Extraordinaire

When you sit in a classroom knowing the answer but are afraid to raise your hand, you find solace in realizing you are right.  When you've been banished to the bench knowing you could assist your team if only given the opportunity, you find solace in past experiences.  When you sit alone as other groups gather, you find solace in your unique individualism and gifts.

As a slave in the United States the chance to attend school, join a team or create a circle of friends was not available.  Days were defined by back-breaking work and horrific living conditions.  One boy found solace in words, sustaining him for his entire life.  His days are passionately portrayed in Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton (Peachtree Publishers, September 1, 2015) by author illustrator Don Tate.

GEORGE LOVED WORDS.  He wanted to learn how to read, but George was enslaved.  

A master's approval for a slave learning to read was unlikely to happen.  Everything was about work.  George still gathered words he heard, weaving them together like a cloak of comfort.  He listened and learned the alphabet as white children studied.

A gift of a hymnal from his mother, even though he could not understand the words, was a promise.  The discovery of an old spelling book was all he needed to pursue the possibilities in that promise.  Alone in the dark by the light of a small fire, George Moses Horton learned to read.

Like water released from a dam, George read everything his eyes touched but what he loved the most was poetry.  Not only did he find pleasure in the reading of poems but he formed lines of poetry in his mind, keeping them safe until he could learn to write.  When he was seventeen George's life changed dramatically.  He was given to the master's son.

The best time was Sundays when he was allowed to walk eight miles to the campus of the University of North Carolina.  As he sold crops grown on the master's farm, to shield himself from the taunts of the students, he opened his mouth releasing those stored poetic words.  The students were enthralled.  George's life changed again.

Books were given to him.  Requests for poems were asked of him.  He was paid in money and other items for his beautiful words.  He was taught to write by a professional.  He was still the slave of the master's son.

His words were published.  An arrangement was made so he could write full time.  Money was raised to buy his freedom.  He was still the slave of the master's son.

The Civil War altered George's life once more not for the good until it ended.  He was sixty-six when he was no longer the slave of the master's son.  Words, wonderful words, had sustained this marvelous man, this poet.


By the time I finished the first page of this biography today, even though I have read it before, the words written by Don Tate brought tears to my eyes.  Perhaps it is the sharp contrast between sharing a few hours with students in a classroom hours earlier and the longing felt by George Moses Horton who wanted to learn to read but could not attend school.  Most certainly it's the carefully researched narrative placed on each page, descriptive, nearly lyrical and deeply moving.  Here is a sample passage.

Then George found an old spelling book.  It was tattered and some pages were missing, but it was enough to get him started.
George thumbed through its pages.  He recognized some of the letters.
At night, when he should have been resting after a long day of work,
George studied by firelight.  His eyes burned from the smoke. 


Pride in hard-won accomplishments radiates from George Moses Horton on the matching dust jacket and book case.  Those same wide flowing lines seen here are used within the body of the book to display text or heartwarming or heart wrenching events.  On the back, to the left, inset in this image is George, poetic words coming from his mind as he pushes a cart laden with fruits and vegetables to the university.  On the opening and closing endpapers with a background appearing like parchment or very old paper, Don Tate has lines streaming like ribbons from two different works by Horton.  Two title pages depict George at the university and on the farm working, always working.

Illustrations may span edge to edge across two pages, appear as a large inset in a double-page picture, or as smaller vignettes.  The insets are framed but one or more elements may extend beyond the boundary.  Historically accurate architecture, attire and landscape are depicted.  The facial expressions of George and the other people in his world are exquisite in their portrayal of particular moments.

Rendered in mixed media, gouache, archival ink, and pencil on acid-free, 100% cotton watercolor paper and digital the illustrations are illuminating.  We are acutely aware of every facet of George's life presented.  One of my several favorite illustrations is of George teaching himself to read.  Stars are strewn across a night sky as he rests on his elbows studying the old, torn spelling book.  He is on a small hill with a tiny fire burning.  Behind him a small, wooden, windowless shack is placed in the lower, left-hand corner.  Clothes are drying on a line.  It is inspirational and hopeful.


Poet:  The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton written and illustrated by Don Tate is one of the finest picture book biographies of this year.  No personal or professional bookshelf should be without a copy.  At the close of the book Tate includes a page of resources, an extensive two-page Author's Note and a page of acknowledgements.

You will want to learn more about Don Tate and his other books by accessing his website via the link attached to his name.  This link takes you to a page on the site dedicated to this title.  You might like to read his launch week post linked here.  John Schumacher, Scholastic Ambassador for School Libraries, revealed the book trailer on his blog, Watch. Connect. Read. along with a guest post by Tate.  Five Questions for Don Tate, Author of Poet: The Remarkable Life of George Moses Horton can be found at UNC Library News and Events. Don Tate is a guest at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and at teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner's Let's Get Busy Podcast #184.  


Make sure you stop by Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to see the other titles selected by bloggers participating in the 2015 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge this week.

In Ten Years

Every single time I read a biography, especially a picture book biography; I am truly astounded at the capacity of the human spirit.  My purpose in placing emphasis on picture book biographies is those authors and illustrators search for the essence of each person, specific points of interest, given their limited page space.  No matter the circumstances of these individuals, they all have a can-do attitude.  Their lives serve to inspire others.

In reading The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, April 1, 2015) written by Chris Barton with illustrations by Don Tate with every page turn I could feel myself cheering on this man.  In any given situation, he found a way to move forward.  He searched for opportunities, making them work for his life's goal.  There is a reason the word amazing appears in the title.

John Roy Lynch had an Irish father and an enslaved mother.  By the law of the South before the Civil War, that made John Roy and his brother half Irish and all slave.

It is believed that John's father, an overseer, wished to buy John, his brother and mother, Catherine.  Before he was able to complete his plan, Patrick died.  The man who he entrusted to carry out his desires sold the family to new owners.

John Roy was allowed to work at the big house on Homochitto Street of his new owners, Mr. and Mrs. Davis, in the city of Natchez across the Mississippi River.  His service there came to an end when he voiced his true opinion during a meal one day.  John Roy was moved to work in the cotton fields on the other side of the river at Tacony Plantation.

After the Emancipation Proclamation but still during the Civil War, John Roy turned sixteen.  With true ingenuity, he was able to cross the river back to Natchez.  He secured a job on a Union transport steamer.  During his employment with them he bettered his position three times.  At the close of the war, John Roy decided to stay in Natchez instead of heading to the North.  It was a tumultuous and dangerous time in Mississippi for the freed slaves.

As he had done aboard the Altamont, John Roy at the age of nineteen became indispensable in his new employment at a local portrait shop.  Sincere in his efforts to keep learning he would listen in on lessons given at a nearby school and attended night classes.  When changes came to Mississippi, John Roy was ready.

John Roy began to speak out as a political activist.  He became a land owner. (I cheered when I read where he purchased property.)  For his efforts and voice for righteousness, a newly appointed governor in 1868, gave John Roy the position in Natchez of Justice of the Peace.  He was twenty-one years old.  John Roy refused to keep silent and the people of Mississippi believed in him election after election.  By the time he was twenty-five John Roy Lynch was on his way to Washington, D. C. to serve in the United States House of Representatives.  These achievements are indeed amazing.


What is most impressive about the writing of Chris Barton in this title is his ability to captivate the reader immediately with his frank discussion of the events in which John Roy was born, raised and lived.  A key aspect which contributes to the excellence of this biography is the inclusion of vivid portrayals of life in the South during Reconstruction.  Sentences such as

His father lacked the power to change the law---he was just an overseer, a hired hand.
Besides, while he many have loved these slaves, he most likely took the whip to others.

serve to build confidence and trust between the author and the reader.

Word choices and selected information, meticulously researched, reveal how in each adverse situation, truly horrific at times, John Roy persevered building toward his success.  The way Barton writes, as a reader, you can feel tension (the good kind) building toward the final two pages which include his speech on the floor of the United States House of Representatives in favor of the Civil Rights Bill.  Here is another sample passage.

Trusted to develop the photographs, John Roy continued to develop himself.  He took note of everything, every detail of operating the shop.  Because the shop owner had John Roy Lynch, he didn't need anyone else.  By nineteen, John Roy was running the place by himself.  


When you open the matching dust jacket and book case, the community of Natchez is displayed from the back to the front, left to right.  John Roy Lynch, as a successful politician for the people, is looking right at the reader.  Due to his early success I like to think he would make eye contact with everyone he met, sincere to his center in his endeavors.  The opening and closing endpapers are textured in hues mirroring old paper or parchment.  Across the verso and title pages a single picture continues what is viewed on the dust jacket and book case.  The Natchez is floating down the Mississippi River with clouds billowing in the background.

Using mixed media, ink and gouache on watercolor paper, Don Tate recreates historical Mississippi for readers.  Gorgeous two page spreads with intricate detail depict momentous occasions in John Roy Lynch's life and in the lives of others; our introduction to his family, his father as overseer of the slaves working in the cotton fields, his father's death, Mrs. Davis's singing and speaking during Sunday School, John Roy crossing back to Natchez and then leaving the Altamont, the horror of the new Mississippi laws and life during Reconstruction, the portrait shop, John Ray Lynch speaking to people and to the representatives of the House.  The text may be placed within the image or set aside in a frame. Smaller pictures or single page illustrations are either surrounded by white space or extend page edge to page edge. Tate's color choices are a reflection of the historical period, the setting, architecture and clothing.

One of my favorite illustrations is of John Roy Lynch standing on a hill in Natchez after he decides to stay.  In the distance the Altamont, on the left, is leaving.  John Roy, the boat, knoll and bushes are in black and gray silhouette against an orange and golden yellow sky and river.   Behind John Roy, satchel in hand, is the sun. I believe this image is significant.  It speaks to the devotion of this man to his home and people.


The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch written by Chris Barton with illustrations by Don Tate is a remarkable biography.  This is a man with whom we should all be familiar.  The blend of narrative and pictures is compelling from beginning to end.  After the two pages of his speech a single page shows an older John Roy Lynch with a continuation of his beliefs about this country.  There is a single page Historical Note about Reconstruction, a Timeline of important dates in John Roy Lynch's life alongside historical dates, an Author's Note, an Illustrator's Note, sources For Further Reading and two maps.  This is a back matter goldmine.

To learn more about Chris Barton and Don Tate please follow the links attached to their names taking you to their websites.  Here is a link to an educator's guide found at the publisher's website.  The cover reveal for this book appeared at teacher librarian extraordinaire John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read.  Eerdlings, Official Blog of Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, hosted both Chris Barton and Don Tate in a Q & A.  Don Tate was a guest at author and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Chris Barton was a guest at busy teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner's Let's Get Busy Podcast #122.  The publisher gives you a sneak peek at interior illustrations here.  The author and illustrator have created a Pinterest board for this title.  Enjoy the book trailer.




Here is a tweet Don Tate shared about this book.

Books used as reference or inspiration for illustrating THE AMAZING AGE OF JOHN ROY LYNCH. Takes books to make books! pic.twitter.com/7dSirmMq9S
— Devas_T (Don Tate) (@Devas_T) March 26, 2015

UPDATE:  March 7, 2016 both Don Tate and Chris Barton made videos regarding their Bluestem Award nominations.