Thursday, June 11, 2020

Feed Your Mind : A Story of August Wilson by Jen Bryant and Cannaday Chapman - ADVISABLE

Feed Your Mind : A Story of August Wilson by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Cannaday Chapman, PICTURE BOOK, BIOGRAPHY Abrams, 2019. $18. 9781419736537

Language: PG (2 instances of the "n" word).

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

August Wilson was a very smart boy - he was reading by the age of 4, and was a smart student, but racial prejudice by both students and teachers, kept him from regularly attending school. He was a brilliant writer - loved writing poems. As an adult, he listened carefully to the conversations going on around him, writing down snippets and incorporating them into his writing - eventually using them in his plays. 

It's a long read for a picture book. Too long for a read aloud - unless you do it in parts - Bryant has divided the story into acts, like a play. Chapman's illustrations are so expressive. I liked the use of shadow to direct the focus. It reads like a play with free verse narrative, and creative staging in the illustrations.Includes an author's note, an extensive timeline, bibliography and list of plays. The "n" word is used twice as August is confronted by racial prejudice.

Lisa Librarian

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