An Act Of Charity

There truly is power in the written word.  There is our initial reaction upon first reading it or hearing it read.  It can be revisited again and again, giving us time to reflect on possible meanings, forming and revising thoughts and opinions.  No matter when written its purpose can extend far into the future, a future yet to be imagined.

On April 7, 2017 a master in the use of language passed away from our earthly realm.  There is no possible way to number the countless individuals who benefited from her written words.  What Is Given from the Heart (Schwartz & Wade, January 8, 2019) written by Patricia C. McKissack with illustrations by April Harrison is the last book by a beloved author and the debut picture book of a renowned artist.  The value of what these words and illustrations convey will not fade.

It was a rough few months for Mama and me.
We were already poor, but we got poorer last April, when Daddy went to sleep on the front porch and never woke up.

By the first of summer James Otis and his mama lose their farm and move to a tiny house, with rooms one behind the other in a row, in a low- lying area of land.  Their lives seem to go from worse to much worse.  One day their home is flooded, and the boy's dog runs away.  They survive through the holidays until February arrives.

In church on a Sunday near Valentine's Day, Reverend Dennis announces love boxes will be delivered to those in need.  People in the congregation are asked to give what they can.  One family in particular recently lost everything in a fire.

On the chilly walk home James Otis and Mama talk about what they can give.  The little girl, Sarah, is only seven, two years younger than James Otis.  He wonders what people with nothing can give to others with nothing.  That night in bed possibilities wander around in his mind but he dismisses all of them as he falls asleep.

In the morning James Otis is moved by his mother's act of love for the Temple family.  Every day he wonders what he can give.  Nothing seems exactly right until he remembers one of his cherished possessions.  Can he do the same for Sarah?  On the Sunday of the presentation to the Temple family a response warms all hearts.  A circle of charity (love) is completed when James Otis and Mama near their home.


Children, all readers, will wholly identify with the poignant voice of James Otis as his tale unfolds.  When Patricia McKissack writes this story allowing us to see the world through a child's eyes, it enters our hearts and stays there.  Specific sentences define the poverty with heart wrenching clarity. 

Mama cried and cried, 
'cause Daddy didn't have a suit to be buried in.

Strength of character is revealed in the words of Mama as she speaks with James Otis.  It's not just her words that move him, though, but her actions.  Patricia McKissack shows us how love evolves through the ponderings of James Otis as he struggles to find a gift for Sarah.  Here is a passage.

As time flew toward Valentine's Day, I fretted more and more.
I considered giving Sarah a puzzle.  It didn't bother me that two pieces
were missing but it might bother her.  Unh-unh, that wouldn't do, 
not even with a bow on it.  And neither would my capeless Superman
Halloween costume.


Looking at the open and matching dust jacket and book case readers are given views, two different views of expressed love.  Rendered

in mixed media, including acrylics, collage, art pens, and found objects

artist April Harrison through a blend of bold and delicate lines, various textures and muted, earth tones brings a natural warmth to her illustrations.  By featuring Mama and James Otis on the front, we can see how her strength literally and figuratively envelopes him.  To the left, on the back, a picture of Sarah allows us to see the gift James Otis gives her and her happy reaction.

The marbled background seen on the jacket and case is replicated on the opening and closing endpapers, verso (dedication) and title pages.  The images, full-page and double-page, bring a very real sense of place and time to the readers.  Details, a calendar and family photographs on the walls, artwork on the refrigerator and a blue ribbon hanging in James Otis's bedroom, further our connection to the characters.

The affection between a son and his mother is shown in their frequent embraces, facial expressions, and general physical closeness.  April Harrison brings us close to James Otis and Mama for some of the illustrations and moves us farther away in others.  This gives us an idea of the place where they reside. 

One of my many favorite illustrations is on the first evening when James Otis is awake in bed, thinking about what to give Sarah.  On the wall next to a tiny, narrow window hangs his blue ribbon and a family picture.  On his small dresser sits his shiny rock , whistle, and several books.  He is covered with a quilt made by his mama.  On a rug on the wooden floor is his puzzle, missing two pieces.  James Otis looks worried.  How many of us have spent hours in bed thinking and worrying and trying to figure out what is best?


When a book like What Is Given from the Heart written by Patricia C. McKissack with illustrations by April Harrison is read, it brings to each reader a message.  For some it will be the same and for others, it will be different.  What is certain is that this book will be remembered.  Love remains.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Patricia C. McKissack and April Harrison and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Patricia C. McKissack has several videos at her website you will enjoy watching.  April Harrison has an account on Instagram.  Here is the link to The New York Times obituary for Patricia C. McKissack.  The artwork for this book is highlighted at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  You can also view interior images at a publisher's website.

Rhythmic Heartbeat Of A Child

During childhood our words form into chants, songs, rhymes, sayings, poems and stories.  When learned by heart from daily use, we carry them into adulthood.  They are passed from one generation to the next generation, their rhythmic memories echoing through the ages.

As an integral part of our culture, they shape us.  Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out!: Games, Songs & Stories from an African American Childhood (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, January 10, 2017) collected by Patricia C. McKissack with illustrations by Brian Pinkney is a treasury of tradition and history.  It is an astounding resource.

Our earliest toys are our hands, feet, and voices.  When we are babies, our wiggling fingers, curling toes, kicking legs, and flexing fists, combined with our squeals of wonder and surprise, provide us with hours of challenging and entertaining play while helping us develop basic learning skills.

After an introduction nine chapters take us into the past and bring us to the present.  They also provide an invitation for a future full of fun.  These hand claps, jump rope rhymes and games, circle games and ring shouts, songs inspired by the Underground Railroad, spirituals, hymns, and Gospel music, proverbs, psalms and parables, superstitions, fables and Mama sayings, performance pieces inspired by African American writers and folktales and storytelling not only bring together African American children and

have provided a connecting thread among people of color throughout the world  

but reach out a unifying and universal hand to all children.

How many can remember Patty Cake?  Did you know there are more than thirty variations?  It would have been wonderful as a child to have been taught to hand clap to the nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy or to transform Little Anthony and the Imperials song Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop (1960) into an original hand clap.  Jumping rope alone and hot pepper or double Dutch jumping is both a challenge and a joy with these songs.  Gather in the round to the sound of song, clapping and stomping--ring shouts.

Songs guided slaves toward freedom with words having more than one meaning.  In 1871 a group called the Jubilee Singers from Fisk University gathered spirituals sung in the South during slavery.  Gospel songs, a form of worship music, are a blend of enthusiastic voices raised in melody and shouts and body movements.  They praise Jesus as portrayed in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Comparisons to proverbs from other cultures are made to those of African American sayings, supplying us with the sure knowledge we are the same in wisdom.

Native American Saying
Be satisfied with the needs instead of the wants.
African American Saying
There's nothing better than enough.

Biblical psalms and parables serve as a foundation for spiritual thinking.  Superstitions, fables and sayings from mothers abound in every culture guiding, protecting and asking children to stop and think.  Have you ever played Porch School?

Literary giants were featured by children who were "on program".  Pieces were memorized and recited.  A gift handed down from parents to children and them to their children is the art of telling a good story beginning with Anansi and how he came to possess all stories and ending with children's favorite, a scary story.  A lifetime, many lifetimes, are held in these pages waiting for release by readers.


For each of the chapters Patricia C. McKissack has written an introduction providing a basis and personal context for her selections.  She informs us of the histories attached to each of the individual choices within each chapter.  The information she includes is absolutely fascinating for readers of all ages.  We are able to enjoy multiple versions.  Her writing style for this book is as if we are sitting on her front porch gathered together as she shares her years composed of claps, stomps, circles, shouts, rope jumping, songs, sayings, African American literature and stories.  Here is a chant for three rope jumpers.

I Know
(Begin with three jumpers.)
I know something,
But I won't tell;
Three little monkeys
In a peanut shell.
One can read.
(One jumper leaps out.)
One can dance.
(The second jumper leaps out.)
And one has a hole
In the seat of his pants.
(The third jumper leaps outs.) 


Don't you want to start singing, jumping and dancing when you look at the front of the matching dust jacket and book case?  The art of Brian Pinkney rendered throughout this title with watercolor and India ink on Strathmore watercolor paper flows with energy.  To the left, on the back, a single smaller picture features four children, arms raised and mouths open in song.  They are placed above a list of some of the titles showcased in this book.  A deeper sky blue seen in some of the lines on the front of the jacket and case covers the opening and closing endpapers.

Brian states in an illustrator's note at the beginning how his memories of these selections guided his work.  There is much joy in every single line and brush stroke placed on the heavier, matte-finished paper.  His color palette leans to warm and more pastel shades, although his black and white images are equally ready to leap off the pages.

Every chapter begins with a full page picture.  Nearly every page has one illustration.  At times a visual will cross the gutter.  His interpretation of Patricia's selections is striking and memorable.

One of my many favorite illustrations is for the chapter Turn About: Jump Rope Rhymes And Games.  Beneath the text a boy, eyes closed in concentration and a smile on his face, is leaping over a rope.  He holds the ends of the rope in his hands.  His feet are kicked up behind him.  You can't look at this picture without smiling or laughing along with the boy.


I read this book in a single sitting.  Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out!: Games, Songs & Stories from an African American Childhood collected by Patricia C. McKissack with illustrations by Brian Pinkney is one of those rich and rare books which will be a resource and source of happiness for generations.  Everyone will find connections in this book to their own personal childhoods.  At the close of the book Patricia C. McKissack includes Acknowledgments, Notes for each chapter and a Bibliography for each chapter along with an Index.

To discover more about Patricia C. McKissack and Brian Pinkney and their other work please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Several pages of interior artwork are shared by author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  You will want to read through this review and conversation with McKissack at Kirkus.

Although this book is far longer than a nonfiction picture book, I choose to feature it for my choice as a participant in the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.  This challenge is hosted by educator Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy.  Take a few minutes to view the titles chosen by other participants this week.