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| Image Retrieved from An American Story (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner): Alexander, Kwame, Coulter, Dare |
Yet again, I bring Kwame Alexander as an exceptional poet and children's author for Black History! Alexander wrote An American Story to tell the story of slavery in America after an incident in his fourth-grade daughter's classroom where he learned his child's teacher was afraid of teaching about slavery appropriately, so she just didn't. Alexander writes a dual-setting story that switches back and forth between Africa and the U.S. in the 17th and 18th centuries and a modern-day elementary classroom, the contrast highlighted between full-color, incredibly vivid illustrations for the former and simple black charcoal art on yellow pages for the latter. In the story, the tragedy of slavery is told while students and their teacher, Ms. Simmons, are simultaneously wrestling with how to tell the story and what to do about inequality today. The illustrations are absolutely captivating; it's obvious why this book is also a Coretta Scott King award winner. This book has been banned for supposedly promoting Marxist ideology and teaching Critical Race Theory.
My Impressions and How I Would Use this Book:
First, I must applaud Alexander and Coulter for telling such a horrible true story without minimizing the damage of slavery, while still being inspiring and developmentally appropriate. That said, I would not consider this book appropriate for students below 3rd grade. Students who haven't yet developed the capacity for empathy nor begun to question narratives and think for themselves simply aren't ready to know the extent of how horrible slavery was in the United States. I would use this book at the beginning of a unit on slavery or the Civil War; students have likely examined both from the point of view of prominent white abolitionists and slavery-apologists, but likely have not yet explored slavery from the point of view of enslaved persons or children their own age. We would have a lot of difficult conversations while addressing perspective, problem-solving, and Civil War/slave trade standards. To end the unit, we would brainstorm ways we can "raise [our] voice, holding history in one hand, and clenching hope in the other" (Alexander, 2022).
Professional Review:
"“How do you tell a story / that starts in Africa / and ends in horror?”
Alexander uses multiple voices to weave this poem about a teacher who takes on the difficult but necessary task of starting a classroom conversation about slavery. Between the theft of people from the African continent and the sale of people in America, from the ships that brought them and the ocean that swallowed some of them to their uncompensated work and the breakup of families, Alexander introduces objections from the implied listeners (“But you can’t sell people,” “That’s not fair”), despair from the narrating adult, encouragement from the youth, and ultimately an answer to the repeated question about how to tell this story. Rising star Coulter’s mixed-media art elevates the lyrical text with clarity and deep emotion: Using sculpted forms and paintings for the historical figures gives them a unique texture and lifelike fullness, while the charcoal drawings on yellow paper used for the present-day student-teacher interactions invite readers to step inside. Where Coulter combines the two, connecting past with present, the effect is stunning. Both young readers and adults unsure of how to talk about this painful past with children will find valuable insights.
With powerful art from a bold new talent, this is a probing and sensitive take on a devastating chapter of U.S. history. (author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Informational picture book. 6-10)
Audience: Children's
ISBN: 978-0-316-47312-5
Author: Alexander, Kwame"
Retrieved from: AN AMERICAN STORY. (2022). Kirkus Reviews, Xc(23) https://login.ezproxy.jbu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/american-story/docview/2746884236/se-2
APA Citation:
Alexander, K. (2023). An American story. Little Brown and Company.
Alexan
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