Monday, January 23, 2012

The Great Migration - poetry picture book

by Eloise Greenfield;
illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist

This picture book of poetry is about the movement of African Americans out of the South between 1915 and 1929.  Author and poet Eloise Greenfield, who experienced the Great Migration as a baby in 1929, tells the story in five parts of free-verse poems ranging from few lines to a few pages each.  Jan Spivey Gilchrist uses mixed media collages to illustrate the poems, incorporating historic newspaper clippings and old photographs into her original drawings and paintings.

The jacket describes the book as being for ages 3-8.  However, I feel the book is more appropriate for a slightly older age group, perhaps 5-10, particularly as free verse as well as some of the illustrations are rather complex.  A short bibliography at the end of the book extends its range to even older students.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

ETA: On January 23, 2012, this book was named a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book, "given to African American authors and illustrators for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions, [to] promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream of a pluralistic society."

[This hardbound book was received from the publisher (Amistad, a division of HarperCollins) for review as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It was donated to the Curriculum Collection at the Dick Smith Library of Tarleton State University, and its call number is  PS3557 .R39416 G74 2011.]

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