From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 3–Recounting stories told by J. W. Williams, a friend of her mother's, Barbour captures the essence of a black Louisiana farmer's life in the early 20th century. In this first-person narrative, Mr. Williams describes his childhood, depicting an austere daily routine of hard work punctuated by Sundays and seasonal changes and embellished by his joy in the natural world. On summer evenings, I'd lie on the porch with a pillow…[and] listen to the owls hollering…and foxes barking their funny little dog barks. Racism was a fact of life, but the text does not dwell on it. Williams does recall the young white men who regularly tried to run him over as he walked to school: I was scared of some white people. They'd scare you up pretty good. If you ever saw white people you'd go way around them. The words are succinct but evocative of a larger picture, which Barbour leaves for readers to paint for themselves. The ink-and-gouache illustrations, punctuated with well-placed bits of fabric collage, are perfect. Polka-dotted cotton fields, unpainted raw floorboards, skin tones ranging from tan to gray to blue, and a radiant sun add texture and temperature to the pictures. The beauty of this book comes from the synergy of the spare narrative and rich artwork. The contrast makes each one more compelling; together they are powerful. This exquisite piece of oral history will surely elicit conversations about race, but it also provides a terrific opportunity to discuss the beauty of a simple life lived well.
–Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
K-Gr. 3. Drawing on her childhood memories of Mr. Williams telling stories, Barbour has put together a picture-book biography that combines her handsome paintings with Williams' direct, first-person narrative about growing up African American in Arcadia, Louisiana, in the 1930s and '40s. It's a story of hard work during the growing season--ploughing, planting, picking cotton, picking corn--and of walking five miles to school in the winter. The fear of abuse is honestly presented ("if you ever saw white people you'd go way round them"), as is the harshness of everyday life without electricity or running water. But the memories of home are still idyllic, and the full-color, double-page spreads in gouache and ink on paper and collage show Williams' large family together, hard at work and around the table. A good starting place for oral history projects across the curriculum.
Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
