From Booklist
This entry in the American Heroes series takes a welcome turn from George Washington and Davy Crockett to introduce young readers to one of the preeminent twentieth-century African American artists. Collard recounts a few important touchstones of Lawrence’s life (coming of age in Harlem during the Great Depression, working under the WPA, being drafted into the Coast Guard during World War II) but mostly frames the narrative around his works, especially the renowned 60-piece Migration of the Negro series, which documented the mass move of black Americans (including Lawrence’s own parents) from southern states to the North from World War I through the beginning of World War II. The narrative is concise, but not to the point of simplicity, with large-type text centered on the page with plenty of surrounding space, a quality sorely lacking in many biographies that mistake claustrophobic arrays of boxes and insets for an inviting design. Reproductions of paintings and period photos alternate each page with the text, and a time line, glossary, and suggestions for further reading conclude. Grades 2-4. --Ian Chipman
