Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace, by Ashley Bryan

It wasn’t until forty years after the end of World War II that artist and poet Ashley Bryan began to share his experience serving with the 502^nd Port Battalion, one of four Black units of Company C in the United States Army. He was drafted at the age of nineteen, in the spring of 1943 while a student at Cooper Union in New York City. Bryan had arrived at this fine arts school through the unwavering encouragement of his parents and teachers—and the blind scholarship test that judged artistry alone, not race or ethnicity. Bryan’s tour of duty in the Army began with basic training in Massachusetts; in simulated drills, he received an unsettling first glimpse of what wartime—and serving in a segregated army—meant. He discovered that his passion for observing and recording what he saw and felt could sustain him through the horrific realities of the next three years. He kept numerous sketches in his knapsack and penned letters to loved ones. “I had to draw. It was the only way to keep my humanity.” In Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace, Bryan's recollections are conveyed through drawings and personal notes as well as documentary photos—vividly personal and universal at the same time. To readers for whom soldiering is unfamiliar, this beautifully-realized memoir offers penetrating insights to war tempered by the instincts of a resolutely generous man who shared his energy, perseverance and art with those around him. Decades later, in the 1980s, Ashley Bryan uncovered sketches of his time in foxholes on Normandy Beach at the end of days spent unloading cargo ships, guarding German prisoners of war, viewing the destruction of cities in France and Belgium, obtaining berths for the men in his detail to head home to the States. Yet more recently, in his home on an island off the coast of Maine with his garden, easel, hand-crafted puppets and sea-glass windows nearby, he returned to those drawings, bringing color and rhythm to the dark experience of war. Ages 10-15; Atheneum / Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2019.

Ashley Bryan has received numerous awards for his expressive and celebratory picture books for young people, many of which reflect African American culture. Readers can learn more about Mr. Bryan by visiting the Ashley Bryan Center at https://ashleybryancenter.org. 

Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary, by Elizabeth Partridge

Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don’t You Grow Weary, by Elizabeth Partridge, focuses on the role of young people in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches advocating for the right to vote for African-American citizens. It was a difficult time in Selma and throughout the South; Jim Crow laws stood in the way of many people’s civil rights. In 1963, ten-year-old Joanne Blackmon accompanied her grandmother, who intended to register to vote, to the county courthouse. They were denied admittance and subsequently arrested, the first of numerous times over the following two years. Protests crystallized in the spring of 1965. The constancy of the community in protesting, the brutal events at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the participation of Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis and thousands of others led to President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965. Documentary photos and electrifying essays bring mature readers directly into this time in history. Ages 10-15. 

Viking Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House, 2009. 

Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote, by Kirsten Gillibrand, art by Maira Kalman

“Who taught my mom and her mom and her mom to be bold and brave so they could teach me and you? I can tell you who. The women who came before them—women who faced unimaginable challenges.” Thus writes author Kirsten Gillibrand as she begins recounting the contributions ten women made to the fight for women’s right to vote over the centuries. Some names are familiar, such as Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman; other suffragists may be unfamiliar to readers, such as Mary Church Terrell and Inez Milholland. Gillibrand notes the changes that brave women have wrought over many years, citing a personal example: her grandmother was born at a time when women could not vote, and today Gillibrand is a United States senator, helping to make the laws that govern our nation. Each biographical profile is succinct yet captures the essence of each person’s pursuit; the common thread is the drive to bring into law women’s right to vote. The path to suffrage was winding, and very possibly readers will want to explore the journeys of other activists who kept working, into the 20^th century, to ensure all citizens could cast their votes. While the 19^th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution certifying women’s right to vote was ratified in 1920, it wasn’t until 1965 that the Voting Rights Act secured African American citizens—men and women—their right to vote in all states across the nation. The vital importance of the forward energy demonstrated by so many people in history is brought to the present by Gillibrand when she notes that the Women’s March in Washington DC in January 2017 was a clear expression that women and men will continue to advocate for what they believe in. She encourages readers to “Be bold and be brave. The future is yours to make.” A summary of additional women who helped shape our nation comes at the end, providing a wonderful sendoff to readers as they envision their own future roles. The colorful, passionate artwork of Maira Kalman appears on every page, including the endpapers of the book, capturing not only memorable cameos of ten women but also a unique scene from each of their lives. The picture book Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote is an excellent introduction to women’s suffrage and the importance of ongoing advocacy for a strong democracy. Ages 6 up. Alfred A. Knopf / Random House Children’s Books, 2018.

Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children, written by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

Mary Harris Jones was not afraid to make people mad. In the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century, this fearless woman brought attention to the practices of industries that kept workers in inhumane conditions. Having immigrated, as a child with her family, from Ireland to America via Canada to escape the potato famine, she became a dressmaker, married and had a family of four children. Jones was no stranger to personal tragedy, losing her husband and children to the yellow fever epidemic of 1876 and her home and business in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. She then turned her considerable energy to the cause of labor at the time industrialization was changing the face of working conditions across America. She traveled the country as a labor activist, earning the name “Mother Jones” as she supported workers who toiled long hours in the coal, textile, and railroad industries, suffering low pay and no protections in their work. 

In the picture book Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children, author Jonah Winter and illustrator Nancy Carpenter bring alive the march Mother Jones led in 1903: the Children’s Crusade from Philadelphia to President Franklin Roosevelt’s home on Long Island. The march highlighted the unbearable conditions for child workers in the textile industry. Jones gathered an “army” of many children and a few adults, called the newspapers, and began the journey to see the president. The young workers carried signs that read “We want to go to school” and expressed the need to play, to be in the fresh air and at home more than ten and eleven hour shifts at the factory allowed. By the time the parade reached New York City there were just thirty-seven stalwart kids left marching up Fourth Avenue by torchlight. A very small group traveled further, to President Roosevelt’s mansion on Long Island, only to be told the President was not at home. Was their march a failure? No. It shined a clear light on unjust working conditions for children, paving the way for significant changes in labor laws to protect young people. Winter’s first-person narrative and Carpenter’s panoramic art capture in a very engaging manner the enormous determination of Mother Jones and her passion for economic justice. In the words of a review by Horn Book Magazine, the book’s theme hits home: “…progress is worth fighting for, and may not show immediate success.” Ages 5-9. Schwartz & Wade / Penguin Random House, 2020.

 

For more information about Mother Jones, readers can consult these resources of the Library of Congress: https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-mother-jones.

A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation, by Barry Wittenstein, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

On August 27, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. flew to Washington DC to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom scheduled for the next day. Dr. King had not yet written down the speech he was to give, and he met with a close group of civil rights leaders in the lobby of his hotel to listen and talk together. Should he speak as if preaching in church? Had people already heard enough about his dream? Might it be best to remind the nation that America had written a “bad check” to African Americans, falling short of its promises? Certainly, justice had been too long delayed, and unrest continued to mark streets and cities as people sought to have their voices heard. Dr. King worked nearly through the night on his speech, writing and revising, then delivering it mid-afternoon on August 28 to a crowd of over 250,000 people on the Washington Mall. He spoke with authority, using rich images of our nation’s heritage and the challenges facing it. Then singer Mahalia Jackson, sitting nearby on the podium, called out: “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” His tone changed, his spirit rose, and he brought to a fiery conclusion the address that came to be known as his “I Have a Dream” speech. In A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation, author Barry Wittenstein’s narrative brings readers into both the historical context of the times and the immediacy of the moment as civil rights leaders struggled to make progress on pressing issues. Jerry Pinkney’s nuanced collage illustrations beautifully convey the layers of the story—with cameos of the participants and depictions of the expansive scene on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Author and illustrator notes and additional details about King’s advisors and the March itself are included at the end. This picture book is an inspiring tribute to Dr. King and the passion continuing to power the movement for social justice today.

 

Neal Porter Books / Holiday House, New York, 2019.

 

Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story, by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes

 

When Chester Nez was eight years old, he learned that the beliefs, traditions and language of his Navajo culture were forbidden at the boarding school to which he had been sent. At Fort Defiance School in Arizona, Chester lost his Navajo name Betoli, too, along with his long dark hair. This was in 1929, a time when many children were sent from their home reservations to missionary schools intended to prepare them for living in the white man’s culture. But even as he knew he must learn English, pray the Catholic way and understand the world beyond the reservation, Chester nurtured his Navajo roots, renewing his strength and courage when he returned to the reservation on school vacations. Author Joseph Bruchac, in the biographical picture book Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker’s Story, tells the story of Chester Nez, his quiet endurance, and the cohort of Navajo men who signed up to serve as U. S. Marines in World War II. Recruited specifically to create a code that could not be deciphered by the Japanese as war was waged in the Pacific arena, these men succeeded in using Navajo words to create a code that defied translation, helped win the war, and remained a secret until the U. S. military decided to declassify it in 1968. Young readers will understand the irony of a child having his native language erased in school then being asked, as an adult, to contribute to the defense of the country. Readers will also be fascinated by the structure of the secret code, where all the letters of the alphabet received a Navajo word and key words received Navajo equivalents: A = wol-la-chee (Navajo) = ant (English), B = shush (Navajo) = bear (English), etc.; Battleship = lo-tso (Navajo) = whale (English) and Grenade = ni-ma-si (Navajo) = potatoes (English), and so forth. This process is told with engaging immediacy, and illustrations by Liz Amini-Holmes convey the sincerity of Chester’s journey throughout his lifetime. Following World War II, Chester attended college to study commercial art, served in the Korean War, and then worked as a professional painter. In Bruchac’s words: “Despite being told to give up his Navajo language and culture, he found ways to merge them with the white man's world. His spirit stayed unbroken. He kept his feet on the trail of beauty.” In an appended timeline, we learn that, in 1982, August 14 was proclaimed Navajo Code Talkers Day, and that in 2001 the twenty-nine original Navajo Code Talkers received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. Ages 7-10. Published by Albert Whitman & Co., 2018.

 

Joseph Bruchac’s Code-Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two, tells the story of 16-year-old Ned Begay who served along with other young men on the Pacific front. Though fictional, it relates the reality of wartime and the valor of the Navajos who saved American lives through a secret code. Ages 12 up. Chester Nez told his own story, for adults, in Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII, with Judith Avila.

Her Right Foot, by Dave Eggers, with art by Shawn Harris

Her Right Foot is a special book. Conversational in tone, it begins in the heart of France because the Statue of Liberty began in France. Most of us know that it was given to the United States by the people of France to commemorate our country’s first 100 years. We also know that this colossal statue stands in New York harbor and that the lamp Liberty holds high has been a beacon, over many years, for immigrants arriving in a new land. What we may not know about is the phenomenal detail its construction involved, and that it was first assembled piece by piece in France, disassembled and shipped across the sea to America, where it was reassembled for its dedication. Author Dave Eggers invites readers, in a delightfully witty way, to discover fact after fact about the Statue of Liberty. Her copper skin is no thicker than two pennies, and it was brown before it became oxidized to the distinctive green we see today! Do you know what the seven spikes on Liberty’s crown represent? And have you observed that the book she holds in her left hand reads “July 4, 1776”—the date on which the Declaration of Independence was signed? And, to the main point of Egger’s book and something most of us probably have not noticed: the Statue of Liberty’s right leg is in mid-stride, the heel of her foot above the pedestal on which she stands. “She is going somewhere! She is on the move!” Thus we can surmise, says Eggers, that as a symbol of freedom the Statue of Liberty cannot stand still: ”Liberty and freedom from oppression are not things you get or grant by standing around like some kind of statue.” Shawn Harris’s artwork is the perfect complement to the story—energetic, expressive, and engaging. Readers of all ages will be inspired to move into the future with courage and conviction—and with a heightened understanding of what a symbol can impart. Ages 5 and up.