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Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses

8/26/2015

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Young George Moses loved how words danced. When Bible verses were read, he listened. When children read books aloud, he listened. When songs were being sung beneath the hot sun, he listened. But George wanted to do more than listen to the music that words made when spoken. He wanted to read those words, too. 
So George, by listening, learned the alphabet. Will he be able to read now? His mother gave him a book of hymns, but he couldn't read it. Not yet. 
George found an old spelling book--tattered and torn--and night after night, despite being tired after working all day on his master's farm, George studied the letters. He sounded out the words. He worked until he had taught himself how to read those words. And soon words became sentences, sentences became paragraphs, paragraphs became stories. George was reading! And how he loved being able to read!
George read books. George read the Bible. George read poems. George read hymns. George read newspapers. George read anything he could get his hands on. 
With all those words dancing inside George's head, a wondrous thing happened. Those words began to line up together into their very own song, a song of George's making, a song that needed to be heard aloud. George had become a poet, and not just any poet, but a poet of the finest kind. Now it was his own words that were dancing above the tilled fields like a musical breeze.  

"When first my bosom glowed with hope, I gaz'd as from a mountain top On some delightful plain; But oh! how transient was the scene--It fled as though it had not been. And all my hopes were vain."

POET: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton, written and illustrated by the talented Don Tate, is a picture-book biography that every classroom should have. Students will see that even during the dark days of United States history African-Americans could read and write. It was slavery's chains and oppressive laws, especially after Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831, that stole their opportunity to do so. But they certainly had the ability. Language is a gift all humans normally possess, even the oppressed. And I am sure that any child today who struggles to read and write, no matter their ethnicity, will find George's determination to learn to be absolutely inspiring.
There is so much to love about this book. The color tones that Tate used mirror the brightness and joy that words infused into George's life. I love the illustrations where George stands tall while he is reciting his poems for college students. I love seeing George dressed in his finest as he wrote out his poems for the wife a professor, the one who helped him become published. And I absolutely love how the book's designer at Peachtree Publishers took George's poems and placed them about the page like they are dancing on the air.  

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Lilliput, a beautifully illustrated middle-grade

8/24/2015

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PicturePublished by Peachtree Publishers
Meet Lily, a feisty 3-inch Lilliputian who is determined to escape Gulliver's prison. Who does he think he is--that yahoo? How dare he kidnap her, put her in a birdcage, and keep her there for moons? And for what? To offer proof that Lilliput is real? 
Not if Lily has anything to do with it! Lily is determined to escape. And this time her plan just may work! With feathers strapped about her arms, she flies out an open window. She is finally free, free as the birds that fly in London's skies. Just then, Gulliver's giant hand reaches through the window, and yanks her back inside. 
But all is not lost. Finn Safekeeping, an "apprentice" to the evil clock maker who lives in the shop below, has found Lily's plea for help, the one she tied to the tail of a mouse. And today Finn has slipped a little something into Gulliver's coffee. Before you know it, Gulliver is knocked out and Finn has got Lily safe inside his pocket. Finn, however, cannot take Lily far. He has a Waste Not Watch that winds cruelly about his wrist and that keeps him bound to the clock maker's shop. Lily decides not to escape alone. She will free Finn. Besides, he can help her make her way through those massive streets of giants. So using her small, nimble fingers, she loosens the mechanisms within the Waste Not Watch and frees him!

"There's a reason we found each other," she told him. "We're the keys that unlock each other's cages."

Finn, with Lily in his pocket, and the clock maker close behind, dashes into the streets of London. Eventually, the two friends find safety inside Mr. Ozinda's candy shop. Once Lily is revealed, Mr. Ozinda determines to help Lily find her way back home. Will she ever make it? Or will Lily be stuck in the world of giants--forever? You'll have to read this illustrated middle-grade written by Sam Gayton and published by Peachtree Publishers, to find out.
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Alice Ratterree (c)
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Alice Ratterree (c)
What I love about this spin-off from Gulliver's Travels--that classical tale written by Jonathan Swift in 1726--is the illustrative work of Alice Ratterree. She captures each moment with detailed skill, not dissimilar from the work of a clock maker. Eighteenth-century London is dressed majestically by Ratterree's pencil and watercolor drawings. She infuses Lily's spunk, determination, and bravery into every illustration. Just look at Lily as she wields her needle like a sword! She's a tiny force to be reckoned with, to be sure!
Lilliput is written by Sam Gayton, illustrated by Alice Ratterree, and published by Peachtree Publishers. 

llustrations © 2015 by Alice Ratterree. Permission to use granted by Peachtree Publishers.
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    About Me

    I am a children's book author who loves learning about lesser known individuals shining in the margins of African American history. My debut novel for young readers, Mama's Chicken & Dumplings (Margaret Ferguson Books, 2024), received a starred review from Shelf Awareness and is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection. I am 
    represented by Kelly Dyksterhouse of The Tobias Literary Agency.


    Copying, reposting, or otherwise republishing anything on this blog without permission is strictly prohibited.

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