Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie
Little Bee Books (2016)To start off, the book that I chose to review is a poetic, picture book called, "Freedom in Congo Square" and this book was written by Carole Weatherford. This story is about slaves who are counting down the days until they all can go to Congo Square. They are so excited for this day because they get to spend half a day at the Congo Square and this is where they can be free for the time being and talk to other tribes. Having fun, being stress free and connecting with other people is something that they looked forward to. The story starts off on a Monday and explains the different tasks the slaves do each day as they count down for Sunday to come around because that is when they will go to the Congo Square. This is a very well-written and just overall good quality book because it has a great layout, it lets the readers learn about slavery, and has great illustrations that go along with the story.
First off, after reading and evaluating this book, I can definitely say it has a great layout. The front of the book is very appealing that shows a picture of a person who is dancing next to colorful words that states the title of the book (Freedom in Congo Square). I feel like right off the bat, this book gets the reader's attention and instantly makes them wonder what exactly it is about. At the very beginning of the book, it has a history page of Congo Square which lets the readers learn about what exactly that place is. This is very beneficial to the readers; especially when they have never heard of that place before. Directly after the history page is where the story begins. After the story follows a glossary page and then a page full of the authors notes that explained more about slave history. The layout of this book is very interesting and makes the book that much better.
Another reason why I think this book is a great one for people to read is because the readers learn about what slavery was like back then. This is a very sensitive topic to most African Americans and it is important for people to understand what life was like back then. In this story, it was explained how different tasks were done each and every day of the week. As each day gone by, the more excited the slaves became because they knew they were that much closer to freedom. For example, the book says, "Mondays, there were hogs to slop, mules to train and logs to chop" (Weatherford 6). As the story goes on it talks about what tasks were done each day of the week. The readers really get a feel of what slaves went through back in the day and I feel like that was one of this books strongest qualities because once Sunday came around, the readers can tell how much the slaves appreciate their freedom for the short amount of time that they got it.
The last reason I think this book is a great one is because of the way it was written and the great illustrations that came along with it. This book is a great poem book that made it really fun to read. This book would go good for little kids to read and it's a great way to introduce slavery at such a young age. The way this book is worded is very simple and easy to read. At the end of each sentence, the last word rhymes with the last word of the next sentence which makes it fun to read. Even though slavery is a hard topic, this book made it fun to read about. For example, the book says, "Tuesdays, there were cows to feed, fields to plow, and rows to seed" (Weatherford 10). Although it is talking about what the slaves had to do, the rhyming of the words makes the reader feel more relaxed instead of all tense and serious.
The illustrations in this book are well-drawn out and created. Color is what is very important when evaluating a picture book and I can definitely say that this book has great color choices. The pictures tell a story on its own but with the sentences added to it, it makes a perfect book. Instead of the pictures giving off a sad mood, it gives off a bright mood because of the colors that were chosen. In this story, the pictures were used with brighter colors which gives the overall mood a more content feeling. Also, the words are placed in a great spot on each page that gives space for each illustration.
Overall, after evaluating this book, I strongly believe this would be beneficial to future students. Having that said, I would highly recommend this book to other people because it has a lot of different qualities that makes it a successful story. Personally, this is the type of book I would want to have in my classroom because it is easy for kids to read but at the same time can educate them of the past. Like I previously said, slavery is not an easy topic to discuss on; however, this book brings it up in a more lightful way.
I would recommend this book. I thought this was a well-written and illustrated story and children can really benefit from reading this.
Review by Taylor Gucciardo
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