Naberhaus, Sarvinder Blue Sky White Stars 32 pp. Dial 2017. ISBN 978-0-8037-3700-6 (3) K–3 Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. Spare, powerful prose presents the American flag and the American landscape and people in parallel: “Sew together one nation / So together one nation.” Evocative paintings portray the natural scenery as well as images from history, including […]
Picking up dropped stitches
We are down to the wire, book-coverage-wise; after this post, it’s on to gearing up for our end-of-the-year Mock Caldecott vote. We try to discuss as many eligible picture books as we can here, but inevitably we miss some. This post is intended to catch some of those missed titles. I’m taking a slightly unorthodox approach […]
I Have a Dream
Robin and I have been figuring out how to finish things up here with some last-minute posts before the vote. Weirdly, we find that the three books we MOST want to discuss in the next two days are all about real people and have the word “Dream” in the title. I know this sounds like […]
Reviews of the 2012 CSK Author Award winners
Winner: Kadir Nelson for Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray) “Most folks my age and complexion don’t speak much about the past,” begins the unnamed narrator of this graceful and personalized overview of African-American history. But this doesn’t stop her from telling the story in a sweeping account […]
Kadir Nelson Talks with Roger
Roger Sutton: Your new book, Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, weaves together historical facts—about slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation, real people like Rosa Parks and Dr. King—with the stories of the relatives of your fictional narrator. It must have been quite complicated to do. What was your entry point? Kadir Nelson: […]
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans
So, our loquacious friends at Heavy Medal are burning up the internet talking about a picture book, Kadir Nelson’s Heart and Soul. Do read that discussion and then ask the big question, “Is this a picture book or an illustrated book?” I know, half of you are rolling your eyes and saying, “Isn’t that the […]