Troubled Waters Run Deep
RSSBarbara Auerbach, Curriculum Connections -- School Library Journal, 10/20/2009
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Watch as Patricia Polacco demonstrates her book-making process and discusses the multicultural content of her books
Troubled Waters Run Deep
While recent years have witnessed the publication of a wealth of outstanding picture books on African-American history, this season's offerings include some of the best choices for elementary and middle school students. In original, and heartfelt, beautifully illustrated selections, authors and poets explore topics related to the Underground Railroad, Harper's Ferry, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement.
“Run, Run, Run as fast as you can…”
In Patricia Polacco’s picture book, January’s Sparrow (Philomel, 2009; Gr 4-6), young Sadie and her family run from their Kentucky plantation after witnessing the brutal whipping of their friend January. A carved wooden sparrow was a gift to the child, whittled by the man, who confided, “It’s fixin’ to fly. And so is I.” Her parents, Sarah and Adam Crosswhite, flee with their family to the free state of Michigan and friends, though trouble eventually catches up to them.
Through the voices of January and Sadie, Polacco tells a riveting freedom saga; her illustrations capture the tense drama and emotions of the characters and their circumstance. Twice in the story, Sadie blames herself for bad things that happen; ask students if she is really to blame. Have them write about a time they felt responsible for something that happened in their lives.
Unlike January, Tonya Cherie Hegamin’s runaway is a mere babe. Quilted endpapers pay tribute to the hand-sewn quilt a mother makes from scraps to warm and protect her little girl as she pushes her into freedom’s arms on the Underground Railroad in Most Loved in All the World (Houghton, 2009; Gr 3-6). “A log cabin means a place is safe. This star is brightest in the sky; it’s for you to follow…” and “This little girl…is the most loved in all the world.”
The richly textured acrylic paintings convey the selfless love of the mother as well as the innocence of a young child. Students can imagine what goes through the mother’s head after her daughter is gone. Some might pen a letter from mother to child or imagine several years have passed and the girl is living free with another family. What would she write to her mother?
Joseph Slate’s narrative poem, based on a Buddhist parable, tells of a runaway slave shackled with a ball and chain. His refrain, “Before I die, I want to be free./But the Big Man says, you belong to me,’” echoes throughout I Want to be Free (Putnam, 2009; K-Gr 4). Though able to break the chain that binds him, try as he may, he cannot budge the ring that chafes and burns his ankle. When he runs again, he encounters a young boy, whose mother has died. Others tell him to leave the child behind for the Big Man to find, but he insists on caring for him. When they finally reach the “Land of the Free,” the boy touches the ring on the man’s ankle, and miraculously it falls away. “How, dear child, did you set me free?”/”I’m from the Lord. You cared for me.”
E.B. Lewis’s dark-hued, dramatic watercolors coupled with Slate’s powerful poetic voice convey the dangerous, emotional journey to freedom. Ask students to compose a verse from the boy’s point of view.
“We’re Not Gonna Take It”
John Hendrix offers readers a slice of history and insight into the motives and downfall of a famous abolitionist in John Brown: His Fight for Freedom (Abrams, Oct. 2009; Gr 4-8). The pen-and-ink and acrylic wash illustrations portray a larger-than-life figure, the stuff of tall tales. The detailed account of the events that led up to his doomed raid on Harper’s Ferry reveals a man of uncommonly strong convictions and sense of justice. “Many people called him a crazy zealot and thought his scheme was a bloodthirsty act of terrorism. But others said he was a hero…His war did not bring freedom, but his voice roused a complacent nation to action.” Students can debate whether or not Brown would be considered a terrorist today or compare his actions to his contemporaries who had equally strong beliefs on civil rights.
Aaron Reynolds’s The Back of the Bus (Philomel, Jan. 2010; K- Gr 3) offers a child’s perspective on the historic bus ride. A young boy and his mother sit “…right where we’re supposed to—way in back,” the child clutching his golden brown marble, rolling it along the floor grooves until his mother “shakes ‘no’” at him. Unsure of the what the commotion is about, he asks again and again, “We in trouble, Mama?...We do somethin’ wrong, Mama?” Yet as he watches the policeman arrest Mrs. Parks, his fear dissipates. “But instead of feelin’ all shaky, I feel a little strong. Like Mama’s chin.” Ironically, she reassures him, “Don’t you worry none. Tomorrow all this’ll be forgot.”
Floyd Cooper’s captivating oil paintings executed in his signature subtraction method offer a moving, accessible window into the ride that jumpstarted the Civil Rights Movement. Have students dramatize the story; assign individuals to be the mother, her son (don’t forget the marble!), Rosa Parks, the bus driver, and the police officer—everyone else rides the bus.
Ntozake Shange offers a stunning, heartrending portrait of the Civil Rights Movement from the horrors of lynching and the Ku Klux Klan to the hope and strength of heroes like Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. in her poetry collection, We Troubled the Waters (HarperCollins, Nov. 2009; Gr 6 Up). “Thank you Rosa Parks/for sittin down cause you was tired/& they handcuffed you & dragged you away/cause you were tired, dear Rosa Parks/you were all of us who are tired/of beatins, fires, police & havin/nowhere to rest.”
Rod Brown’s vibrant, evocative paintings are the perfect complement to these powerful, accessible poems. ...“Who knew that Lorraine would not just be some/girl’s name/but a memory burnin in the souls of millions/Andy Young/Ralph Abernathy/conjuring up the sermon/the night before/Martin claimin ‘I might not get there with you’/and then the shot/the gut-wrenchin cries the nation afire/rage & love underestimated/we pleaded for nonviolence/they didn’t listen/& the cities went crazy/Martin oh Martin.” Students can practice reading these poems aloud, either chorally or in alternating pairs; they can also write original poems about an incident of prejudice or open-mindedness they have witnessed in their own lives.
