Fact Friday: The Poet Slave of Cuba: a Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle

Image: Macmillan Publishers

The Poet Slave of Cuba: a Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Sean Qualls. 

Happy Friday! Fact Friday features The Poet Slave of Cuba: a Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Sean Qualls. This blank verse biography is a compelling and difficult read. It tells the story of Juan Francisco Manzano, who was born enslaved in Cuba in the late 1700s. He was bright and had a way with words. He also had a photographic memory, which made him a bit of a pet or show pony for his mistress. When she died though, his new mistress beat him mercilessly. The spare, honest verse sheds light on the brutality of chattel slavery and also illuminates the resilience of those enslaved.

Fact Friday: This Promise of Change: one girl's story in the fight for school equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy

Image: Bloomsbury

This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy. 320 p. Bloomsbury Children's Books, January, 2019.  9781681198521. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Fact Friday features This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy. After the Brown v. Board of Education decision made school segregation illegal in 1956, schools and communities did not just welcome Black students with open arms. TMS readers, many of you are probably aware of the Little Rock Nine, but do you also know about the Clinton Twelve? This Promise of Change is the verse biography/ memoir of Jo Ann Allen, one of those twelve students who integrated their local high school in Clinton, Tennessee in 1956. The reader learns historical context - the reality of school segregation in the Jim Crow south. The free and formal verse poems are augmented with bits of newspaper headlines and excerpts of legislation. Readers will be stunned by the vile hatred spewed by the crowds of whites determined to prevent desegregation. The courage and composure with which these twelve students comported themselves is admirable. Back matter includes authors' notes, an epilogue, photographs, a timeline, suggestions for further reading and source notes. 

This Promise of Change won the Boston Globe/ Horn Book Award last May. It was named a Kirkus Best Book and won an Sibert Honor in January. It belongs in every collection and truly is a must-read. 

Fact Friday: Etched in Clay: the life of Dave, enslaved potter and poet by Andrea Cheng

Image: Lee & Low Books

Etched in Clay: the life of Dave, enslaved and potter poet by Andrea Cheng. 160 p. Lee & Low Books, January, 2013. 9781600604515.

Fact Friday features Etched in Clay: the life of Dave, enslaved and potter poet by Andrea Cheng. This is a biography in verse about Dave, an enslaved young man, who, around 1815 was brought to Edgefield, South Carolina, and taught to throw pots. He learned quickly and was soon designing and creating a variety of beautiful and useful pottery. Defying anti-literacy laws, he taught himself to read and proved to be not only a master potter, but a poet. He carved poems which described his daily life into many of his pots. 

Fact Friday: His Name was Raoul Wallenberg: courage rescue and mystery during World War II by Louise Borden

His Name was Raoul Wallenberg: courage rescue and mystery during World War II by Louise Borden. 136 p. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January, 2012. 9780618507559. (Own)

Raoul Wallenberg was born to wealthy Swedish parents in 1912. He was bright, kind, inquisitive and had a knack for languages. He spoke five fluently. He led a life of privilege and decided to use his talents and influence to provide safe passage for thousands of Hungarian Jews. His disappearance at the end of the war remains an unsolved mystery. He was last seen in the custody of the Russian Army. This verse biography is compelling reading. It's profusely illustrated with photographs and maps, and the author's scholarship is evident in the lengthy backmatter.

Fact Friday: Twelve Rounds to Glory: the story of Muhammed Ali by Charles R. Smith Jr.

12 Rounds to Glory: the story of Muhammed Ali by Charles R. Smith Jr. Illustrated by Bryan Collier. 80 p. Candlewick Press, November, 2007. 9780763616922. (Own)

Fact Friday features 12 Rounds to Glory: the story of Muhammad Ali written by Christopher R. Smith and brilliantly illustrated by Bryan Collier. Muhammad Ali never backed down from a fight. He fought just as hard against prejudice out of the boxing ring as he boxed opponents in it. He won Olympic gold in 1960 as an eighteen-year-old named Cassius Clay. By age twenty-two, he was the heavyweight champ, an outspoken Civil Rights activist and a convert to Islam. From then on, he was Muhammad Ali. It is apt that this biography is written in poems as Ali was also a poet. He would trash talk his opponent in poems but he would also write serious spoken word poems, which, it could be argued, were the precursors to rap. 

Fact Friday and Review: When Paul Met Artie: the story of Simon & Garfunkel by G. Neri

When Paul Met Artie: the story of Simon & Garfunkel by G. Neri. Illustrated by David Litchfield. 48 p. Candlewick Press, March 20, 2018. 9780763681746. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

There wasn't a lot of music in my house while I was growing up. First, there wasn't money for records and, with six kids making the noise of, well, six kids, the last thing my mom wanted was radio adding to the din. Actually, I'm not sure we owned one. My dad commuted into the city by bus and was a news hound so if we were in the car with him driving and the radio was on, it was tuned to news. All this made his coming home one night with a couple of albums by these two young dudes named Simon & Garfunkel notable to my eight-year-old self. Some friends of his had recommended them and he liked the songs well enough to buy some albums, dust off the record player and play and play and play them. So I ended up loving them. They had disbanded by the time I was old enough to go to concerts but I went to their reunion concert in Central Park. The very concert that opens this lovely biography.

When I featured this book on a Waiting on Wednesday morning announcement, my students were, "Simon and who?" And so, this book comes at a perfect time to introduce young music aficionados to these legends. They don't know that they know some of the duo's songs thanks to movies like Forrest Gump, Transformers, Watchmen, and The Muppet Movie, to name a few.

Old Friends is the first poem. In September of 1981, the duo reunited for a concert in New York's Central Park. Neri then travels back in time thirty years to the Queens neighborhood where the boys grew up. This poem is entitled, My Little Town. (I will admit to quietly singing and laughing that I remembered most of the words.)The free verse flows and is easy to follow. Each poem/ illustration is a double-page spread. The accompanying illustrations are just gorgeous. I was so surprised to learn that they were done digitally. They are rich in color and detail and have a folk art feel. The little details like reel-to-reel tape recorders and televisions in a cabinet may need some explaining to iPod toting, flat-screen viewing young readers.

This would make a great addition to any public, school or classroom library. I am so excited to be able to add it to my sixth grade picture book biography unit! Not only does it have terrific back-matter, which I instruct them to pay attention to, the unique free verse is very accessible. My creative students also have plenty of music and video sources to explore and incorporate into their final project, which is a podcast. Put the song titles together for a playlist to cue up on whatever you use for tunes and the stage is set to settle in and enjoy. Don't miss this!

Fact Friday: A Poem for Peter: the story of Ezra Jack Keats and the creation of The Snowy Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney

A Poem for Peter: the story of Ezra Jack Keats and the creation of The Snowy Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illustrated by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson. 60 p. Penguin Young Readers Group, November, 2016. 9780425287682. (Own.)

Did you love the book, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats when you were younger? Our Fact Friday feature is a biography in verse called, A Poem for Peter: the story of Ezra Jack Keats and The Snowy Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Keats was born in Brooklyn, New York to parents who were immigrants from Poland. They were hard-working but poor and Ezra's dreams of going to art school were not within reach. Through the poems, readers learn how Keats' experience with anti-semitism led him to change his name; about working for the WPA, the Works Project Administration; and serving in World War II. Readers learn about how a series of photos of an African American toddler in a 1940 Life magazine article gave him joy so he clipped the photos. Twenty years later, those photos of that little boy served as a model for Peter in what was a groundbreaking book in children's literature. The Snowy Day was published in 1962 and won the 1963 Caldecott Medal.

The poems are accessible and lovely. Two collage illustrators perfectly blend their own styles with Keats resulting in gorgeous spreads. If you are looking for a unique biography, A Poem for Peter is a wonderful choice.

Fact Friday: Martin Rising: Requiem for a King by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Martin Rising: Requiem for a King by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illustrated by Brian Pinkney. 128 p. Scholastic Inc., January, 2018. 978545702539. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Fact Friday features a biography in verse in honor of Martin Luther King Day. Martin Rising: Requiem for a King by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney. This beautifully designed book features stunning water color and ink illustrations and covers Dr. King's last months from his birthday on January 15, 1968 through his assassination on April 4 and ends on Easter Sunday. The power, imagery and beauty of the poems invite reading aloud if not performance. Backmatter includes author & illustrator notes, a timeline and historical context, making this work an important must-purchase addition to any school, classroom or personal library.

Non-Fiction Monday:Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers: The life of Marc Chagall in Verse

by J. Patrick Lewis & Jane Yolen. 40 p. The Creative Company, August, 2011. 9781568562110. (Purchased)

Two premier poets team up again, this time they use fourteen of Marc Chagall's paintings as inspiration for poems depicting various stages in his life. Full-page, full-color, fully annotated reproductions reside opposite a poem, which bears the name of the painting. Pale-tinted text boxes below each poem provide more information about the artist's life in prose and below that, if necessary are definitions of the Hebrew or Yiddish words used above. Several black and white photographs are also reproduced. The final page lists works that the authors consulted.

What a creative and intriguing biography! I was a bit surprised by the copyright date of 2011. How had I missed this? I don't remember what prompted me to put this in my school library book order, but I'm glad I did. It might lend itself to lovely cross-curricular collaboration with the art teacher, not necessarily biographical but perhaps having students choose a painting of an artist or artistic movement being studies and composing poetry along with a bit of additional research. Or, the book can be part of a literature circle with a verse biography theme, joining books by Marilyn Nelson (A Wreath for Emmett Till; Carver: a life in poems), Margarita Engle (Poet Slave of Cuba), Carmen T. Bernier-Grand (Frida: Viva la Vida!), or Carole Boston Weatherford (Becoming Billie Holiday). 

Of course, it can be enjoyed all on its own and certainly deserves space in the poetry collection.

Non-Fiction Monday is being hosted this week by A Wrung Sponge.