Review by Booklist Review
/*STARRED REVIEW*/ All ages. Widely known as the African American national anthem, Johnson's song is combined here with dramatic linocut prints by the celebrated artist Elizabeth Catlett. The song was originally written for schoolchildren at an Abraham Lincoln birthday celebration in 1900. The pictures were originally created in the 1940s as part of Catlett's series on black women through history. Together they make not a literal matching of words and illustrations but a powerful image of ordinary people enduring through hard times. The book design is clear and handsome: on the right-hand page of each double-page spread a few lines of the song are framed by turquoise and black geometric borders; on the facing page is a print, usually in black-and-white. At the end of the book is the full sheet music. Catlett has lived in Mexico since the 1940s, and her art is reminiscent of Diego Rivera's murals, with strong, swirling lines, almost like sculpture at times. Most of the prints are portraits of women--some famous and militant, like Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman; some unknown, their individual figures set against field and city. One unforgettable picture focuses on a weary woman riding the bus behind the "Colored Only" sign; her face makes us imagine her story. Another print shows two women facing each other but alone, segregated city blocks in the background. The art expresses what Jim Haskins says in the introduction about Johnson's song: "it was honest about all the suffering black Americans had undergone but celebrated our triumph over that suffering." (Reviewed FEb. 15, 1993)0802782507Hazel Rochman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Between the sober linocuts and the devotional text, this adaptation of what was once called the Negro National Anthem fairly effuses seriousness of purpose. Lyrics from a song written by two schoolteacher brothers in 1900 in honor of Abraham Lincoln's birthday caption prints created in 1946 and '47 by the granddaughter of slaves; the emphasis here is on suffering, deliverance and gratitude to God. A picture of the victim of a hanging, for example, faces ``We have come over a way that with tears has been watered / We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.'' The score is provided at the end. Throughout, two-color art yields black-and-blue borders, while that blue, an almost turquoise tone, splashes through some of the linocuts. Much like ``The Star-Spangled Banner,'' the production of this anthem is big on reverence and short on spontaneity. All ages. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-In this reissue of the official African American National Anthem, officially adopted by the NAACP, linocut illustrations by Elizabeth Catlett accompany the stanzas of the anthem on the opposite page. Though each linocut was given a caption when created by Catlett, great care was used to illustrate specific stanzas with artwork that thematically represents the meaning of the text. The linocut illustrations allow for a more dramatic silhouette, while the contrast between the black and white composition of the image aids narrative fluidity, especially when depicting clothing. Vivid realism flourishes as each linocut conveys the deepest significance of each stanza and the historical struggles of African American men, women, and children. The original captions for each linocut as well as the musical score for the anthem are included. Turquoise images reminiscent of kente cloth patterns border each page. A foreword by beloved author and illustrator Ashley Bryan introduces this striking collection of art and lyrics. VERDICT This updated tome is a stunning addition to the narrative legacy of African American history and an introduction to a remarkable art form.-Carol Connor, Cincinnati Public Schools © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This welcome reissue of a 1993 picture-book version of the song that has come to be known as the African American national anthem is illustrated with a series of black-and-white linocuts by Harlem Renaissance artist Elizabeth Catlett; she had created the portraits in the 1940s after receiving a Rosenwald Foundation grant. The linocuts accompanying James Weldon Johnsons memorable lyrics are strong, stark, and striking. As Rudine Sims Bishop wrote of the original book in the September 1994 Horn Book Magazine: Together the portraits and the lyrics tell a powerful story of struggle and triumph and hope. This reissue includes the musical score and a (poetic) new foreword by Ashley Bryan. martha v. Parravano (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In his highly iconic reinterpretation of the beloved "Negro National Anthem," Collier was inspired by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Below the words of the song on each double-paged spread, a loose visual storyline follows a young boy through his day. Readers see him rising; going to school; with his class, visiting the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., where a 1963 bombing killed four young girls; laying a wreath at Dr. Martin Luther King's statue, which faces the church; and singing the words of Johnson's momentous song. Two intentional unifying visual elements predominate: water (the slave ships of the Middle Passage, the symbolic drinking fountain of the Civil Rights era, a reflecting pool) and the often upraised, lustrous faces of black school children, sometimes profiled in the clouds. A bright blue predominates in intensely hued skies and school uniforms, while Collier's highly recognizable style incorporates watercolor and collage to meaningful effect. (illustrator's note, words with music) (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
