30. Rosa

Another book illustrated by Bryan Collier...I know, I just can't get enough. Also, it was written by Nikki Giovanni, the editor of book #27. Rosa (2005), as you can imagine, is a biography of Rosa Parks. I know what you're thinking...aren't there already a lot of them? Yeah, there probably are, but what I loved about this one is that is tells a slightly different narrative than what is traditionally portrayed. Giovanni does not present Rosa as a tired woman who didn't want to get up because her feet hurt. That notion seems to invalidate Rosa as a political activist, instead positioning her as a bystander who had had a long day. Which is kind of disempowering if you think about it...she was more than that.


Collier's signature watercolor and collage shines in this books as well as all the others. Notable on the cover are the gold flecks surrounding her head, almost in the shape of a halo. The fact that Collier positions her eyes just above the bottom edge makes it obvious that we are to look at her, to see this story through her eyes. Those eyes are not tired, they are strong and ready for change. The policeman staring at her just makes her inner strength that much more powerful. Collier reveals the reason why he used a lot of yellow hues in his illustrator's note-- 'I wanted the reader to feel in that heat a foreshadowing, an uneasy quiet before the storm.' To him she is a 'radiant chandelier, a light that illuminates all our many pathways'. Collier's collages include important elements of the time, including a newspaper article about Emmitt Till (that one man is reading on the bus), the teenager brutally murdered in Mississippi not long before these events. Collier is always deeply aware of how the elements in his collages tell an important story as well. One particularly effective opening is one where the reader must fold back the pages to reveal a 4 page bleed representing many of the marches that went on in the Civil Rights Movement. 


Giovanni's words complement Collier's illustrations...she tells us about Rosa's work as a seamstress and her thoughts and feelings that day. The reader gets a sense of what was going on in Rosa's head as she makes her fateful decision that day. With a quiet strength, 'she was not going to give in to that which was wrong'. Giovanni says that she was tired, but not of working, instead she was tired of the injustice and segregation. The story is crafted in such a way that you feel you are a fly on the wall, listening in to secret conversations and participating in the scene. So many picture book biographies are told with a separated, objective stance. This one lets you step right in and see how Rosa's brave act created 'an umbrella of courage' for others to stand under and continue the cause of fighting for civil rights. This version of Rosa Parks' biography is one that I feel will inspire children more and empower them to exert a quiet courage in their lives.

28. My Name Is/ Me Llamo Celia

I did not grow up with Celia Cruz. Though her picture looks familiar to me, I would not be able to recognize her voice in a song. So, while reading this book I decided to watch some of her videos. What I saw was a vibrant woman, full of energy, life, movement, power, etc.


That sense of Celia Cruz is shown in Monica Brown's book Me Llamo Celia (2004) illustrated by Rafael Lopez. The cover art jumps out at you right away-- Lopez uses acrylic paints to cover ever single page with vibrancy and movement. His lines often swirl and curl, sweeping our eyes across the pages, turning to find out the rest of the story. Even the endpages have life to them, beautiful swaths of bright colors. The colors in the book are layered, with bright circles often lying on top of people's cheeks and brilliant symbols of life sprinkled across the page. Lopez uses almost an abstract style of painting (it reminded me a little of Picasso) with shapes playing an important role and playing with perspectives. There is so much going on in the art that you can tell a story from the lush, detailed paintings.

But you can't forget the words...a bilingual book (yay!), this story is told in the first person as you hear Celia Cruz tell you about her life. It is written in a rhythmic style, almost as if the salsa infused the words. Brown starts out with feeling and sensory images 

"My voice feels like feet skipping on cool wet sand, like running under a waterfall, like rolling down a hill."

---

"Boom boom boom! beat the congas.

Shake shake shake! go the hips."

that invite us to listen to her and dance with her. The words and images complement each other so well in this book, making the reader feel full of life and ready to move! You could swear you hear music coming from the pages! The book then turns into a heartfelt biography, full of difficult times and perseverance. While I'm sure there are biographies that provide more details about her life out there, this one makes you feel what it would be like to actually live her life, which I think is even cooler.


In the classroom, you could take this text many ways. One that stands out to me is using it for writing, as a mentor text. I teach students to use sensory images in their stories and create a voice...this book is teeming with both. It would also be a great book to look at the issue of racism in other countries, how skin tone matters even when everyone is brown. You could use it in a unit on biographies or music. Finally, you could look at the strength of her personality and discuss positive character traits. Now that I know a little more about her, I admire her and wish I could have a little bit of 'azúcar' in me, too.