From Publishers Weekly
Lasky (Sugaring Time) opens her lyrical portrait of Phillis Wheatley, the first published African-American woman poet, in 1761; her subject is about seven years old, huddled in the dark hold of a slave ship. The narrative evokes the child's image of her mother-whom she would never see again-performing her daily ritual to welcome the sun, a memory the girl "would treasure as if it were the most precious jewel." Lasky offers similarly intimate projections throughout, affording convincing approximations of Wheatley's intelligence and sensitivity. Arriving in Boston, the girl is purchased by Susannah Wheatley, who recognizes Phillis's intelligence and teaches her to read and write, "to prove that it was not only white people who could master languages and the arts." Imagining the girl's thoughts, the author stresses the ironies of the era, such as Phillis's taking her tea alone at a side table after reciting her poems in the parlors of Boston's "finest families." Phillis's poetry expresses sympathy for the American Revolution even as "the colonies in which Phillis lived as a slave were struggling to slip the chains of their own enslavement to England"); no American publisher will print her book, but a British publisher does. Readers hear Wheatley's own voice via a few excerpts of her poetry. Lee's (Amistad Rising) large-scale, realistic acrylic paintings emphasize Wheatley's strength and constancy amidst the turbulent tenor of her times. Young readers may not appreciate the extent of Wheatley's literary contributions, but her courage and achievement are certain to leave a strong impression. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Arriving in Boston in 1760 via slave ship when she was just 7 years old, Wheatley became a learned young woman who was writing poetry by the age of 12. "At seventeen Phillis became famous" when her poem honoring the Reverend George Whitefield was read in the Colonies and in England. Lasky's episodic account breaks the picture-book text into chapters that are sometimes fictionalized or speculative and other times explanatory as they sketch the poet's growing accomplishments, her brief trip to England, and the pre-Revolutionary War events unfolding around her. Narrated in simple staccato sentences, the opening slave ship scene emphasizes the starkness of this experience. Later explanations of historical events become more complex. Lasky draws numerous parallels between the poet's love of freedom and the patriots' cause and concludes with her hard at work writing into the night to describe her African roots to a British soldier. The author's focus is on the poet's intellectual accomplishments and the publication of her book-"the first ever written by a black American woman." Wheatley's adult life and early death are skimmed in an epilogue. Lee's handsome acrylic paintings, including a commanding cover portrait, convey a fine sense of the period. However, in the depictions of Wheatley, the young woman never changes much over the years. Except for a small number of manuscript reproductions, sources are not acknowledged. A bit vague and disconnected at times, this book fills a gap as few accounts of the legendary Wheatley are currently available for children.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College, BostonCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
