Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson, the iconic actress who played iconic Black characters on stage and screen from the 1950s on, gave singular individuality to everyone from Miss Jane Pittman and Harriet Tubman to Binta Kinte, the mother of Kunta Kinte on TV's Roots. As Watson writes in this series of narrative poems, Tyson "was a bright light / shining in a world that was sometimes dark, / sometimes unjust." But before Tyson dreamed of being an actress, she, a child of Caribbean immigrants, pondered and practiced a number of vocations as she grew up in New York City. For children who may not yet know about this elegant woman (who died only recently, at age 96), her childhood and young-adult interests will draw them in. Tyson went from singing and playing piano to styling hair and modeling. As Watson proceeds carefully from the girl to the woman, the award winner to the activist, she casts a light on following your dreams. Shine's illustrations emphasize Tyson's long, elegant frame and stylish fashion sense, drawing the eye with cut-paper collages. A memorial package.

Together, the creators commemorate the life of actor Cicely Tyson (1924--2021), from her New York City childhood to her lengthy career in contemporary cinema. After a stranger predicts early on that she'll make her mother proud, multitalented Tyson, who had roots in the West Indies, meanders through a series of successful vocations, always in search of "more," until a chance encounter leads her to acting. In that capacity, Tyson finds her purpose, and in 2016 is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Incorporating lyrics from hymns and spirituals amid quotes from Tyson herself, Watson uses clarion prose to neatly interweave an homage to the acclaimed actor with information about all that influenced her. Shine uses quilting and embellishments to render this immaculate tribute, visually hinting at the fashion-forward figure's lifelong passion for creating art across mediums. A timeline and author's note conclude. Ages 4--8. (Nov.)

A lyrical salute to the long-lived performer, fashion plate, and human rights activist. "Nine decades she lived: / 96 years. 35,105 days," Watson writes of Cicely Tyson (1924-2021). She goes on in flights of free verse to lay out a life lived "to do good in the world," from early days growing up in the South Bronx as a "brown-skinned girl with twig legs" through early devotion to music and modeling, successes on stage and screen, and later years as a U.N. goodwill ambassador. "We cannot do enough, we cannot give enough, Cicely said. /We have to give back." The author tucks in lines from spirituals to give her tribute further feeling and sonority and, to add broader context, intersperses biographical poems with general evocations of Black experiences in different historical eras: "Black is Emmett Till / and Medgar Evers / and Rosa Parks / and that preacher man King." Shine, best known as a quilter, incorporates brightly hued and patterned fabric piecework into elegant, fashion-forward portraits of Tyson posing with dignity at various ages and in group scenes with other stylized, brown-skinned figures. Further brightens a light who was already shining. (timeline)(Picture-book biography. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.