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HEART AND SOUL: THE STORY OF AMERICA AND AFRICAN AMERICANS

Author Information
Author's Last Name: 
Nelson
Author's First Name: 
Kadir
Illustrator's First Name: 
Kadir
Illustrator's Last Name: 
Nelson
Publisher: 
Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: 
2011
2013 Nomination (not yet selected): 

Kadir Nelson has crafted another unique look at African American life in this bold telling of American history through their perspective. The voice of a female narrator weaves the story from slavery to freedom and all in between. In addition to the compelling illustrations, the choices that Nelson makes as to which incidents should be featured make this ambitious undertaking work more often then not. Ten to Fourteen.

An African American matriarch ties the story of her people to major incidents in American history, noting the omissions, the hardships, and the few but powerful triumphs.   Dramatic full page illustrations feel like a family album filled with courage and dignity.

Comments

Meeting Notes for November

by ladamson - 11/23/2011 - 5:37pm

Meeting Notes for November 18

Positive Comments:

  • At first glance, the subtitle seems pretentious, but the book does tell the “story of America and African Americans.”
  • Both the text and the pictures use irony such as the picture of a beautiful tree masking its identity as a whipping tree.
  • The text’s statements and assertions give children permission to “feel” strongly about the mistreatments that others have endured.
  • The hands at the end of the story offer a circular return to the hands in one of the book’s first pictures.

Observations:

  • Children at one school loved the illustrations finding more details with each examination.
  • Nelson says that he works with light, dark, and the perception of color through patterns of classic American paintings featuring African Americans rather than Caucasians. Say’s Grandfather’s Journey influenced him as well.
  • This book would be appropriate for a dramatic presentation.
  • By omitting a photograph of Obama, Nelson anchors the text to the future rather than keeping it in the present.

Concerns:

  • On page 26, the text becomes heavy-handed when it moves out of the narrator’s voice.
  • The block design of text on one page and illustration on the facing page puts too much emphasis on the text.
  • Colloquialism in the voice bothers some readers.