Celebrating the centenary of the song frequently dubbed “The Negro National Anthem,” this matches those stirring lyrics to equally heartfelt black-and-white photos. Ranging from family groups, choirs, and crowds to a whip-scarred back, wrinkled hands and a tear-streaked cheek. Included are civil-rights marchers, cotton pickers, portraits formal and candid, the famous, and the unknown. The photographs are so well chosen and so thoughtfully laid out that it’s a shame more recognition is not given to the book’s designer. Introduced with a personal and historical note by Henrietta M. Smith, capped by James Weldon Johnson’s brother’s simple musical arrangement, it’s a fitting tribute to a long struggle. Read it—better yet, sing it—to children, and let them pore over the powerful pictures. (musical notation, photo credits) (Picture book. 6+)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0626-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disney-Jump at the Sun
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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There are many parallel legends – the seal women, for example, with their strange sad longings – but none is more direct than this American Indian story of a girl who is carried away in a horses’ stampede…to ride thenceforth by the side of a beautiful stallion who leads the wild horses. The girl had always loved horses, and seemed to understand them “in a special way”; a year after her disappearance her people find her riding beside the stallion, calf in tow, and take her home despite his strong resistance. But she is unhappy and returns to the stallion; after that, a beautiful mare is seen riding always beside him. Goble tells the story soberly, allowing it to settle, to find its own level. The illustrations are in the familiar striking Goble style, but softened out here and there with masses of flowers and foliage – suitable perhaps for the switch in subject matter from war to love, but we miss the spanking clean design of Custer’s Last Battle and The Fetterman Fight. 6-7
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978
ISBN: 0689845049
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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A wonderful retelling of the classic tale, handled with confidence and aplomb in Moses's first book. Here again is the lovelorn, greedy Ichabod; the dismissive Katrina; the loutish Brom Bones; and the headless horseman in all his pumpkin-wielding glory. Moses is true to the original while rendering the story appropriate for a younger audience: Everything from the gawky advances of Ichabod to the flirtatious Katrina, from Bones's pranksterish retaliations to the final electric encounter with the night rider is deftly, elementally, served forth. The sumptuous illustrations are perfectly wedded to the words, be they grand two-page spreads or the small painterly evocations lavishly decorating the text. Look closely: Lurking within the folksy artwork, with its overall primitive look, is an extraordinarily sophisticated technique enriched by an inspired use of color. A top-drawer adaptation, lovely and true. (Picture book/folklore. 6+)
Pub Date: Aug. 25, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-22687-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S | GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS
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