Book Descriptions
for From Slave Ship to Freedom Road by Julius Lester and Rod Brown
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Julius Lester was invited to write a narrative to accompany 21 of Rod Brown's disturbing paintings of scenes from African American history. He was a perfect choice, given his earlier writings about the "slave experience" for young people: To Be a Slave (1968), Long Journey Home (1972), and This Strange New Feeling (1982), all published by Dial. Lester himself made a perfect choice by creating multilayered narratives requiring responses from the viewer/reader. By shaping the book as he did, Lester assumed a basic amount of prior historical knowledge on the part of his readers, whoever they are. He wanted to challenge them to realize they bring their own perspective to the ideas and images in the book. Racism is real, and so is its legacy. Just because this is complicated doesn't imply that young people should not think about it. To encourage interaction with the book's content, Lester developed provocative "imagination exercises." Some are addressed to white people (it's their history, too), and others to African Americans. As readers of all backgrounds are confronted by the paintings, exercises, and other narratives, they react, because it's difficult, if not impossible, to maintain any emotional distance while handling this provocative volume. Lester writes, "Freedom. It's like a promise we are still learning how to keep." From Slave Ship to Freedom Road provides a challenging itinerary for one part of a supremely important journey. It's well worth the trip. Honor Book, 1998 CCBC Coretta Scott King Award Discussion: Author; Honor Book, 1998 CCBC Coretta Scott King Award Discussion: Illustrator. (Ages 11-15)
CCBC Choices 1998. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1998. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
FROM SLAVE SHIP TO FREEDOM ROAD presents a series of magnificent paintings created by artist Rod Brown, portraying the story of slavery from its beginnings on the infamous ships of the Middle Passage to the enslaved Africans' and their descendants' centuries of subjugation and their final hard-won freedom. This gifted artist has vividly expressed both the horror of the slaves' experience and the hope and spirit of resistance that sustained the survivors.
Acclaimed author Julius Lester's impassioned meditations on the paintings challenge readers to imagine not only the pain and grief, but also the triumph of the slaves: a terrifying voyage in chains and darkness; the humiliating auctions that separated families; the belief in deliverance; the joy and uncertainties of freedom. Together, Mr. Brown and Mr. Lester invoke the memory of their ancestors and provide a stirring testimony to their strength and endurance.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.