Review by Booklist Review
In this original picture book, a girl thinks about spirituals. Each double-page spread features her comments, several lines from a spiritual, and an illustration that reflects the tone of the lyrics and music. While most scenes focus on the girl in various contemporary settings, others represent other Black people in the present or in America's past. The free-verse text conveys the girl's thoughts, memories, and emotions as she thinks about spirituals' power to inspire people, including herself. As she says, "Spirituals speak / to something tender / and gentle / and reverent, / and 'sho 'nuff' / and 'can-do' / and so strong / inside of me." Hudson, who remembers spirituals from her childhood and has sung them in choirs, is surely writing from the heart in this lively picture book. Readers fortunate enough to have heard and sung spirituals as children will feel at home, with their memories providing a soundtrack of one song after another. Created with acrylic paint, colored pencils, cut paper, and tissue paper, the illustrations are expressive and colorful. In an appended note, Hudson offers a history of spirituals' development, from their African roots to the 2007 passage of a U.S. Congressional bill recognizing spirituals as "a national treasure." A personal tribute to a beloved American art form.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Willis Hudson movingly exalts the power of African American spirituals in a lyrics showcase that pairs existing verses with feelings they can evoke. On the first page, a Black child watching doves circle narrates on the verso: "When I hear spirituals,/ Sometimes,/ A big, full feeling/ Grows in my chest." The recto, meanwhile, supplies italicized lyrics: "Over my head, I hear music in the air." A page later, a Black adult in a pew bows their head, "A big lump/... stuck/ In my throat," while lyrics read, "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen." Other spreads foreground a church congregation raising their hands in worship, a child dancing in a white dress, and Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King marching in a crowd, mixing historical scenes with everyday vignettes. Ladd's ethereal acrylic, colored pencil, and cut paper illustrations render each characters' heartfelt emotions visible, while personal-feeling text underlines how "spirituals speak/ To something tender/ And gentle/ And reverent/ And 'sho'nuff'/ And 'can-do'/ Inside of me." Back matter includes an author's note and glossary. Ages 6--9. (Jan.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An exuberant and picturesque celebration of African American spirituals. A Black child with dark skin and an Afro puff waxes rhapsodic about spirituals in free verse, while choruses from relevant songs accompany the youngster's words. Sometimes the narrator feels mournful while listening to the music, and "a big lump / Gets stuck / In my throat." The chorus from "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" appears. But this music can be healing, too; here, Hudson includes an excerpt from "There Is a Balm in Gilead." And sometimes the music moves the young protagonist to "stomp my feet" and "sway to the beat"; the opposite page presents the chorus from "Bosom of Abraham." Pairing beautifully with the well-chosen lyrics and Hudson's rhythmic, affirming text, Ladd's richly saturated mixed-media illustrations demonstrate the cultural and historical importance of these songs. Churchgoers lift their hands in praise, Harriet Tubman leads her people to freedom, and Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, and John Lewis raise their voices in protest. The use of cut paper gives the artwork a heavily textured look; emotion feels carved into every spread. Thorough backmatter discusses how spirituals have allowed Black Americans to forge an identity and chronicle their history; Hudson also expands on the people and events depicted in the illustrations. A deeply resonant work that speaks to these songs' historical--and present--meaning. (author's note, glossary, bibliography)(Informational picture book. 6-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
