Beauty, Her Basket [Hardcover]

Sandra Belton (Author), Cozbi A. Cabrera (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Sea grass basket . . .

Sweetgrass basket . . .

Beauty, Her Basket.

"I stick my nose inside the basket as far as it can go. I want to smell its secrets."

Sandra Belton and Cozbi A. Cabrera invite you to the Sea Islands, where a young girl, her cousin Victor, and their Nana are spending the summer together. There will be stories to share and pictures to see and secrets worth knowing. Secrets about these times and the old times and tomorrow, too.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4–Inside Nana's house in the Sea Islands is a basket that smells of the sea and is woven from grasses that grow by the shore. Nana calls it "Beauty, Her Basket." Her granddaughter, intrigued by this curious name, wants to know its origin, and, on the day this story takes place, Nana has promised to tell her. She explains how "Way back in the olden day" those "made to slave" brought with them from Africa the secrets of how to make nets for catching fish, pots for carrying water from the sea, and "the knowing of how to make the basket." And, although so much was ugly in the slave times, the basket, like flowers, is "always a child of beauty." Nana's Gullah patois and the serious subject matter make this a somewhat challenging book. Full-bleed illustrations in darkly brilliant acrylics float and swirl across the page, complementing the lush, evocative tone of the text. Libraries with a focus on regional literature will want to purchase this one.–Anna DeWind Walls, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 1-4. Set in the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia, this follows a young girl into a world whose rhythms are planted in history. The unnamed young narrator is visiting her nana for the summer. She takes in the seascape and the patois rolling lyrically from Nana's tongue, but she is especially intrigued by the grass baskets crafted by the island people. By example and through anecdote, she learns about the African origins of the basketry, along with the skilled rice farming and fishing that slaves brought with them to America. Through these lessons, she comes to appreciate the beauty of her heritage, both past and present. As with Pictures for Miss Josie (2003) and From Miss Ida's Porch (1993), Belton once again uses a narrative tale to illuminate priceless nuggets of African American history. Dark, sometime dreamy pastels evoke the island setting and the warm, loving family backdrop. Pair this with Margot Theis Raven's Circle Unbroken [BKL F 15 04], also about the tradition of basket crafting. Terry Glover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books (December 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688178219
• ISBN-13: 978-0688178215
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,246,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Celebrating heritage, September 7, 2004

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty, Her Basket (Hardcover)

BEAUTY, HER BASKET is a beautifully drawn story of a young girl's visit with her grandmother and the story of her African heritage and how to weave a sea grass basket. Using acrylics for the full-color art, Cozbi A. Cobrera has done an exceptional job of bring this book to life.

In the story, a young girl (never named) shares the landscape and beauty of the stories shared with her grandmother and cousin Victor. The plot centers around basketry and its African origins as well as other skills such as fishing and rice farming which slaves brought to America from Africa.

Though I loved the lessons taught in the story and how it teaches children to appreciate their ancestry and the beauty around them, I simply didn't "get" the title of the book, even after reading it three times. Because of this, I couldn't totally enjoy it and spent a lot of time trying to figure out if Beauty, Her Basket was the name of the basket since the others mentioned in the book were also called the same thing. Perhaps, it's in a native patios/dialect that I just didn't understand? I'm not sure, but I think children will have a problem understanding the correlation between the title, basket, and the story, but in spite of that, will be delighted with the art work.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cultural Differences, January 25, 2006

By 

LOST "LOST" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty, Her Basket (Hardcover)

The book gives a great description of African heritage and how their culture has been passed down from generation to generation. However, we did not understand where the title tied into the story, it never tells why they call the basket "Beauty, Her Basket". We feel that young children may be very confused by this, but they would enjoy the beautiful pictures throughout the story. Children might not be able to understand the dialect because it is so different from what most are accustomed to hearing. In a classroom this book would be great to teach about the differences in cultures, and how things have been passed down from generations.