Customer Reviews

Change Has Come: An Artist Celebrates Our American Spirit

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book provides insight into the thrill of the author on the evening he realized Barack Obama would become the next United States president. As a white United States adult senior citizen, I get goosebumps every time I page through this little book. Kadir Nelson had the drive and the desire to share his excitement on this most historic night -- it's a book that I will read and show to my grandchildren because it not only showcases his incredible art, it beautifuly describes (with Obama's words) a first-time change in the history of the United States of America. All school libraries should have this book in their collection.

This is a lovely little book with marvelous black ink drawings that beautifully memorialize events leading to the election of our first black President. Parts of Barack Obama's speeches are interspersed in this "to keep" book. I wanted more, a bigger book, more writing, more pictures, but this is just the beginning. May this feeling of hope follow with actions that will revive our country and its peoples.

First, I appreciate the fact that this work is published as juvenile fiction. Despite the fact that juveniles can't vote, they are ultimately arguably the most by the political events in the country. It is important to instill a sense of enfranchisement that will hopefully lead them to actively participate in the electoral process as adults.

Obviously, Obama-mania has struck the world, but I find this book not be a cheap addition to the Franklin Mint plate set featuring the president's mug. The words are indeed inspiring, but the drawings are intimate, evocative, and personal.

The illustrations lead the reader through the words and give a real sense of what the "feeling on the street" was during this historic time. This will make a neat gift for a young reader, as I'm sure many adults will enjoy it as well.

Kadir Nelson is an accomplished artist with an impressive body of work on display. President Barack Obama is a gifted orator who inspires. The combination of Obama's words and Nelson's spirit-of-the-moment charcoals make for a tidy little package celebrating Obama's election as the nation's 44th President.

This slender volume is just about perfect for it's target audience, the 4 to 8 year old set. It's very obviously a children's book in tone and execution, the illustrations giving life to words gleaned from several of Obama's more famous speeches.

This book retails on Amazon for just over a 10-spot, and considering the price of some of the other hardcover books targeted at the same audience, that's probably not a bad deal, especially if you'd like something to share with your child that celebrates and commemorates Obama's election.

My review copy of this book arrived an hour after our new President's swearing-in. The joy of the day has been astonishing, and I opened this book with an open heart, expecting to really enjoy it.

I have to say that I was disappointed. This slender and very small book has only a few phrases from President Obama's speeches. I gave up counting at 50 words, but I would be surprised if this book has much more than 250 words over the course of 60 pages. I really like the cover and several of the illustrations, but they truly are just quick sketches-- appealing but with an incomplete, "draft" look. Some might call this a spare, gestural, or impressionistic style, but the overall impression is of something dashed off over the course of a few days in order to make a buck/ capitalize on the excitement of the inauguration. I have loved Kadir Nelson's work in other books (Moses, for example) and wish he had put the same effort into this book.

It bothers me that the illustrator is trying to profit from President Obama's writing and his incredibly hard work over the last two years. The only way I would find this acceptable would be if the profits from the book went straight to a charity of President Obama's choosing (injured veterans, community volunteerism efforts, etc.).

I think people who buy this book on impulse will feel in a few days that their money could have been much better spent elsewhere, especially in these tough economic times.
Rather than buying this book, I'd suggest that people who want to remember this day and honor President Obama purchase C-SPAN's complete speeches by Obama (only a few dollars more).

This book was a bit of a surprise. For one thing, it's small. Like smaller than a breadbox. (Does anyone use an actual breadbox or do we just use the expression?) I was expecting a regular picture book and instead it's the size of a half-sheet of paper. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I thought you should know.

The second thing shouldn't have surprised me at all since I'd seen the cover of the book, but it threw me anyway. This isn't "We Are the Ship" Kadir Nelson or even "Please, Puppy, Please" Kadir Nelson. You won't find his intensely real and lush painting here. Again, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I thought you should know.

What you will find are significant phrases from Obama's speeches paired with sketches inspired by those words. Some of the sketches are very loosely rendered, like one featuring the backs of several people at voting booths. There are scenes from the rallies that are simply sketched, yet capture the feeling of the crowd and the energy. The illustrations of Obama are the most meticulously drawn, with an accurate and vibrant representation of the man.

This book offers a quiet, short space for reflection on this amazing election. I kept returning to one picture of a serious, resolute Obama that was accompanied by this phrase: "The audacity to hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow." Because it is tomorrow.

With all due respect, I have to say that I found this text a tremendous disappointment. While I wasn't expecting a "coffee table" tribute, I was expecting a book that compliments the dignified grandeur of this historic event. Instead, this petite book (smaller and thinner than a DVD case) simply underwhelms.

This brief work contains approximately fifteen quotes (all are ones with which you are already familiar). And while one does not weigh the quality of a work by its length (if that were the case, William Carlos Williams would have died lost in obscurity), I was expecting a less predictable selection.

Furthermore, I am (perhaps) biased in my disappointment in this work. I am not simply fond of the illustrator's approach. I feel this "expressive" technique does the moment a disservice--aesthetically speaking. More controlled illustrations may have (equally) conveyed energy but added an additional element of beauty. (I think I'm just fixated on the particularly unattractive woman(?) wearing the "vote" shirt). But, understand that this is a personal preference: you may find these illustrations compelling.

If pushed to speculate, I believe the creator of this text was sincere in his efforts. I believe the contagious enthusiasm of the election inspired Nelson to want to contribute. Nonetheless, this work may be interpreted by critics as an effort to capitalize on this event (as a result of its brevity and "rushed" feel ... which isn't rushed, but just an artistic choice). I think the real fault here resides with the publisher who elected to print this text in such a small, small, small format (the reader literally has to wrench the covers backwards just to fully see a page). A pity.

There are a number of excellent texts on this event and my suggestion is to look elsewhere. The price of Nelson's book simply is not justified. But, I think this artist demonstrates genuine talent (while not to my taste) and I wish him well.

The pages are filled with the artist's black and white sketches of the President, his family, and the election journey. I really enjoyed the pictures of people during the campaign. The pictures are accompanied by Mr. Obama's own words and this just adds to the emotion of the book.

The only reason I am giving it 4 as opposed to 5 stars is that in the close up pictures I do not personally like how the artist adds lines all over faces, it just distracts from the overall image. Overall however I do like the use of sketches to give a sense almost of the etheral nature of the journey. And I use sketches deliberately. This is a book of sketches not paintings.

Overall I am very glad to have this as a poignant keepsake of the history all of us witnessed and all of us are making. And any age can enjoy this.

I accepted a review copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program as it was marketed as a children's book for ages 9-12, and I am interested in children's books, children's nonfiction and history books for children's educational purposes. I am also interested in `books for children with a message' and books that may be propaganda written for children. I was curious what kind of book could be written and published in between the election and before the Inauguration, what would be said of President-Elect Obama before he even took office? What was the message of the book and what was the creator of it trying to communicate to children?

Upon receiving the book, I see book's dust jacket states this is for `all ages'. In fact it could make a souvenir or commemorative type book for an adult or serve as a little coffee table book for adults who are excited about the election of now-President Obama, whether it be for political reasons or to celebrate our nation's first African-American president.

This slender volume was created by artist Kadir Nelson who explains in the book's notes that drew illustrations for each page in fluid strokes starting immediately after the announcement of Obama's victory. The illustrations capture images of Barack Obama and citizens of the United States too, so this is not just about Obama but also about the people of our nation. Nelson explains the idea was hatched while watching the election results reported and the first drawing began on that night, out of his own excitement for Barack Obama's victory. "I wanted to celebrate that moment in history, and to try to save a little bit of the magic that filled the air in Grant Park, and all over the country, all over the world."

Nelson uses quotes from Barack Obama's speeches made between 2004 and 2008 and pieced together the message that Nelson wanted to convey to readers. A major message is the celebration of the election of the first African-American president. Nelson is African-American and his pride is apparent throughout the book that someone who shares his ethnicity has been elected to the highest political office in our nation. Given the nature of the history of African-Americans in the United States the fact that we finally have an African-American president is indeed something to celebrate in and of itself. "To continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more free, more caring and more prosperous America".

The book contains numerous messages that the people of this land are now united as one with the election of an African-American president, implying a past divide between citizens due to race has how been bridged just by Obama's election.

Another major message of the book is about the citizens of America who it says, came out in record numbers to vote and to support Obama's message of hope and change. (I was curious about the accuracy of that statement and did some fact checking, per [...], the highest number of total voters did vote in 2008 but the percentage of voters that turned out to a presidential election compared to the number of voting aged people in the country was lower in 2008 than it was in 1960, 1964, and 1968, and it was just one percent higher than in 1972, 1992 and 2004.) The impression is given that American citizens felt hopeful, positive in attitude and empowered to vote in this historical election so they came out in record numbers to vote for then-Senator Obama (let's be honest) is a bit deceitful since this was not a landslide victory (compare the seven percent win of President Obama to the eighteen percent win by President Reagan in 1984).

A reader of the book cannot help but feel the excitement and happiness that Nelson felt as he crafted this book (through illustration and in his selection of the quotations used). The anticipation is clear, that Nelson (and now-President Obama) feel that great things to be accomplished by this new leader with repeating messages of hope and change and words that express great dream for the future of America and for the world. "A hymn that will heal this nation will repair this world".

This book has a low word count usually with half of a sentence or one short sentence per page of `sound bites'. The text is lovely and artistically rendered (see the cover for an example).

What this book is not is a unique body of text written by a nonfiction writer-author with long text that explains who Barack Obama is or anything about the historical significance of an African-American person being elected as President. It is not a long telling of Candidate Obama's presidential race. Since it was published before his inauguration, it can't say anything out his presidency. If you are looking for that type of factual nonfiction historical information for educational purposes for children, this is not the book.

This book's strong point is an expression of strong, positive emotions for Barack Obama's election victory.

How this all pans out and how the hopes and dreams conveyed in the campaign and within the pages of this book comes to fruition is something that we'll have to watch unfold. Anyone who wishes to share the messages of joy over Barack Obama's election would be the perfect customer to buy this book (for themselves or to share this message with a child). I'll let you decide if you feel this book is propaganda or not.

I'm giving the book 3 stars (Amazon's definition of 3 stars is "it's okay"). This is based on my opinion that the creator of the book was effective in his desire to bring his vision for a message into book format using effective selection of quotes of the words of Barack Obama himself and adorning the message with illustrations that I like and can aesthetically appreciate. The book captures a message and a mindset that many Americans shared on that historical day, on Election Day 2008. As Nelson states, this does act as a snapshot in time, written by a supporter of Barack Obama expressing happiness over his election victory, it indeed is a moment in between campaign promises, hopes, dreams and before real life and history begins on President Elect Obama's inauguration which his supporters celebrated. However the problems with the voting statistics not matching the messages stated and the fact that the large number of voters did not result in a landslide victory as implied, is a problem that prevented me from rating this 4 stars or 5.

This really is a perfect book for a time capsule!

I ordered this book with excitement. President Obama's election, whether or not you like him, marks significant change for our country that, despite party lines, cannot be quelled; we have our first black President and this is important.

This book was going to be something that I shared with my daughters. A means of explaining the importance of the election, to explain the importance of the movement that changed the course of events in our country and, thus, helped lead to Obama's election.

What did we get? A couple of pencil-drawn pictures with some inspirational snippets from Obama's speeches. I don't understand how such a wonderful moment for our country, our history, can be cheapened so easily for a dollar.

This is really disappointing...