A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

black history

A Place Inside of Me

By Leave a Comment

raincoast FTC

Zetta Elliot, in A Place inside of me, gives us a poem to heal the heart of young people of colour.    In this sensitive picture book we see a young skateboarders’ response to living, before and after, a community member is wounded by the police.  This review is on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

Just so you know, affiliate links will be used in this post. 

A Place Inside of Me

What I am Reviewing

Published by Farrar Straus Giroux, A Place inside of me is written by Zetta Elliot.   Within it’s 32 pages of reinforced binding, this hardcover picture book contains a poem to heal the heart.   Noa Denmom illustrates with care and feeling, bringing to light those hidden emotions inside.

From the cover: 

Summertime is filled with joy – skateboarding and playing basketball – until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace.   …….

Here is a groundbreaking narrative that can help all readers – children and adults alike – talk about the feelings hiding deep inside each of us.

The details for A Place Inside of Me

This is not a book of simple rhyming poetry, but a poem filled with emotion from deep inside of a young man.    Enjoying his summer, until damage happens.  Then pain and anger flow out.   

 Illustrator Noa Denmon does an excellent job articulating the depth and nuances of a child’s experiences following a police shooting.  You’ll see with washes of colour, the grief, and anger, and healing and eventually the community.   

You’ll find the text generally in a large enough format to read with a group of children gathered round, and yet easy enough on the eyes to sit and read with a single child.  A Place Inside of Me is geared to youth 4-8 years old, but would be good with older children as well. 

Should you Get it?

Well-written, covering sensitive pain.  Opening hearts and minds to the inner turmoil of others when a member of their community is hurt.   Even though this specifically applies to Black Lives Matter, I can easily seen the theme crossing boundaries.  An excellent bridge to help children be sensitive to the feelings of those around them. 

A Place Inside of Me is definitely worth reading and I suggest you give it a good look.  Add it to your history.  🙂 

So Tall Within

By Leave a Comment

So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom is a lovely, meaty picture book containing poignant statements and images to that speak to the truth of hard times and hope.  I loved reading through this book and showed it to a fellow homeschool mom who asked “Can I take this home and read it?”  That makes for a nice book eh?   Let me then, tell you all about it. 

So Tall Within, my review

Written by Gary D. Schmidt, So Tall Within walks us through the life of Sojourner Truth on her way to freedom and living as an adult with a mission… freedom for slaves.   I loved the set up of this lovely picture book, which is geared toward children 4-8 years old.  The vignettes that opened each chapter spoke truth about what slavery was and did to the people trapped within that way of living.  This opening page set the tone for the rest of the book, showing the promise within the hardship.  I just loved how aptly the text fit the image created by Daniel Minter. 

So Tell Within

Schmidt walks us through Sojourner’s life, starting with her life as a slave with her momma Mau-mau Bett, learning to remember who her siblings were, to her eventual slavery, through the promise of freedom and finally needing to seize it. She married whom she was told to, had children and found her way to freedom with the help of good people.  Despite her inability to read, she knew the law and her rights and fought for them. And through that, she developed her mission in life.  Tell her story, help bring about freedom for others.  And so Sojourner Truth walked and taught, and walked some more, telling her story to any who would listen.  She travelled through Michigan, Iowa, Washington D.C, and beyond.  Talking and walking, it was her life’s work fighting for freedom.  

So tall within

Interspersed among the 48 pages of the lovely book that causes one to think, ask questions, and ponder the will of a strong woman, are lovely pictures.  Oh my!  They are wonderful pictures filled with tons of images to point out to a young child, or that will inspire the thinking in an older one. 

Images that are full of colour and darkness and light. Images to grab the artist within you and make you ponder all the more the story of Sojourner Truth.  Seeing her faith, seeing her determination, seeing her will to succeed.  Sojourner fought for what is right and didn’t let time or distance stop her. 

So Tell Within

She had help along the way, and we are shown that help.  We saw her loss and fear.   The Slavery was a Time images pulled out truth as we entered into a new part of Sojourner’s life. 

Get this book. Read it with your youngsters.  Use it as a start to a study on Black History. Let your teens read it as well!  It’s not just a book for littles, but for anyone wanting to know more about Sojourner Truth and the struggles that black people had coming out of slavery.   It was a tough time, but determination… wow.. it wins through. 

So Tall within

 

So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom
Gary D. Schmidt
Daniel Minter (illustator)
Roaring Brook Press
48 pages, 4-8 years, Softcover, Picture Book
Biography, History, Black history
Reviewed for Raincoast Books
Find it on Amazon.
disclosure