Sunday, January 29, 2017
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan by Ashley Bryan
Bryan is now 93 and still cranking out books and artwork. This tale captures an indefatigable spirit and vibrant culture in an oppressive time as it shows 11 slaves being sold on the Fairfield estate. His illustrations show the face of each slave and the money they are being sold for at an auction. Each slave has unique skills that give them pride and they find freedom in performing each day. The first page explains their skills and situation while the following page has the slave's dreams that contain their given name from Africa and his or her desire for a better future. Slavery was meant to strip blacks of their dignity and demoralize them. The section of each slave's dreams shows their humanity and universal desires that all people have regardless of race.
The free verse repeats the words, freedom, dreams, and memorable phrases such as "My knowledge makes me/ hunger for more" and "Learning how to work/ with measurements and tools/ gives me an inner strength." This would be good for class discussions grades 3-5. You could just read part of it if the students get twitchy. The illustrations remind me of woodcuts and some are very detailed while others are not. I read this as an ebook and the format was fine. I can see why it has won three awards.