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A review by jennifermreads
An American Story by Dare Coulter, Kwame Alexander
4.0
As always, a work from Kwame Alexander wows, amazes, awes. His words are pure, gorgeous, luscious poetry—even when conveying the dark messages of slavery that they do here.
The author found an artist in Dare Coulter who made bold choices with his mixed media art. Some of the pieces connected with me, some did not. Some of the pieces I found were emotional punches, others I breezed by. But that is art, isn’t it? Pieces rarely, if ever, speak to every person. And even a favorite artist may not always connect with a fan.
I do wish that Kwame Alexander would have shared his author note at the beginning—or incorporated the yellow in-the-classroom pages at the very start. I did not grasp the story was being told in a classroom until I read the author’s note: “I wrote this story after a racially charged incident happened in my daughter’s fourth grade classroom. … It became apparent that so many schools don’t prepare their students to fully understand the truth about slavery. Because it’s scary. And hard.” After reading this, I went back and saw yellow pages earlier in the story. Then, I understood the purpose of those colored pages and the impetus behind the telling the history. Just one more spread was needed, at the beginning, showing children listening to a teacher reading a book in a classroom. Then, those pages at the end that were very obviously a classroom setting, would have made sense.
The author found an artist in Dare Coulter who made bold choices with his mixed media art. Some of the pieces connected with me, some did not. Some of the pieces I found were emotional punches, others I breezed by. But that is art, isn’t it? Pieces rarely, if ever, speak to every person. And even a favorite artist may not always connect with a fan.
I do wish that Kwame Alexander would have shared his author note at the beginning—or incorporated the yellow in-the-classroom pages at the very start. I did not grasp the story was being told in a classroom until I read the author’s note: “I wrote this story after a racially charged incident happened in my daughter’s fourth grade classroom. … It became apparent that so many schools don’t prepare their students to fully understand the truth about slavery. Because it’s scary. And hard.” After reading this, I went back and saw yellow pages earlier in the story. Then, I understood the purpose of those colored pages and the impetus behind the telling the history. Just one more spread was needed, at the beginning, showing children listening to a teacher reading a book in a classroom. Then, those pages at the end that were very obviously a classroom setting, would have made sense.