Today, I'm honored to be hosting a spot
on the KIN by Carole Boston Weatherford & Jeffery Boston Weatherford Blog
Tour hosted by Rockstar
Book Tours. Check out my review post, make sure to enter the giveaway, and then click on over to the other sites participating in this event.
Title: KIN: Rooted in Hope
Author: Carole Boston Weatherford & Jeffery Boston
Weatherford
Pub. Date: September 19, 2023
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
Pages: 208
Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/KINROOTEDINHOPE
A powerful portrait of a Black family
tree shaped by enslavement and freedom, rendered in searing poems by acclaimed
author Carole Boston Weatherford and stunning art by her son Jeffery Boston
Weatherford.
I call their names:
Abram Alice Amey Arianna Antiqua
I call their names:
Isaac Jake James Jenny Jim
Every last one, property of the Lloyds,
the state’s preeminent enslavers.
Every last one, with a mind of their own
and a story that ain’t yet been told.
Till now.
Carole and Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s ancestors are among the founders of
Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but
as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in
slavery, their family tree can only be traced back five generations before
going dark. And so from scraps of history, Carole and Jeffery have conjured the
voices of their kin, creating an often painful but ultimately empowering story
of who their people were in a breathtaking book that is at once deeply personal
yet all too universal.
Carole’s poems capture voices ranging from her ancestors to Frederick Douglass
to Harriet Tubman to the plantation house and land itself that connects them
all, and Jeffery’s evocative illustrations help carry the story from the first
mention of a forebear listed as property in a 1781 ledger to he and his
mother’s homegoing trip to Africa in 2016. Shaped by loss, erasure, and
ultimate reclamation, this is the story of not only Carole and Jeffery’s
family, but of countless other Black families in America.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was a moving and powerful journey from today through yesteryear, as we follow the bloodlines back, and back again, reaching a part of history best learned from, but not forgotten.
Our history is filled with tragedies, atrocities, and the darkness of man's soul...but despite those heavier times, lessons were gleaned, steps forward were made, and people prospered. We're still not where we want to be, but we've come a long way in what seems like such a short time. Reading the stories of the lives represented between these pages, and taking in the stunning imagery right along side, isn't merely words and pictures, but an experience. It brings this branch of history to life in a way I can't say I've seen or felt before, so much so that as the dots are connected through history you too experience in your own way the strength gained, the disappointment shed, and the stars aligning to make this moment worthy of the discoveries occurring.
A unique collection that truly has a tale to tell for one family, but also for a people. It's not just the story of one person, but a story that has roots shared by many, and no matter how hard it might be to look at at times, it needs to be seen, known, remembered, and learned from.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About Carole Boston Weatherford & Jeffery Boston
Weatherford Mother-Son/Author-Illustrator
Duo:
Hailed as “a master” and “the dean” of nonfiction for young
people,” Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winner Carole Boston
Weatherford is a New York Times best-seller and two-time NAACP Image
Award winner. Since her 1995 debut, she has authored 70-plus books including
four Caldecott Honor winners: Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre; Freedom
in Congo Square, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil
Rights Movement, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to
Freedom. Her books have won nine Coretta Scott King Awards or Honors.
She writes the diverse books that she lacked as a child.
A Baltimore native and the daughter of educators, Carole was
virtually born with ink in her blood. At age six, she dictated her first
poem to her mother. Her father, a high school printing teacher, published a few
of her early poems on the press in his classroom. Meanwhile, her
grandmothers passed down oral traditions and stories. By middle school,
Carole had transferred from an all-black public school to a majority-white,
private school where a teacher wrongfully accused her of plagiarism. That
slight compelled her to chronicle a more inclusive history, to amplify
marginalized voices and to build monuments with words.
Now, children’s books are a family affair for Carole. In KIN:
Rooted in Hope, she and her son, award-winning illustrator Jeffery
Weatherford embark on a genealogical quest. Through multi-voiced poems and
dramatic scratchboard illustrations, mother and son conjure the voices and
visages of their forebears. Their ancestors lived through the American
Revolution, fought in the Civil War, were enslaved alongside Frederick
Douglass, cofounded Reconstruction-era villages, and according to local
lore, descended from African royalty.
A professor at Fayetteville State University, an HBCU in
North Carolina, Carole has been recognized with the Nonfiction Award from
the Children’s Book Guild, the North Carolina Literature Award, the
Ragan-Rubin Award from North Carolina English Teachers Association and a
place in the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. She is a life member
of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Jeffery earned his M.F.A. from Howard University where he was
a Romare Bearden scholar and studied under artists from the Black Arts
Movement. A rapper and a fine artist, Jeffery has performed or exhibited
in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Baltimore, North Carolina, West Africa and
the Middle East. Jeffery’s first book was You Can Fly the Tuskegee
Airmen, and his first picture book was Call Me Miss Hamilton. Both
appeared on best book of the year lists.
Website: http://cbweatherford.com Email: cbwpoet@gmail.com
Publicist: The Literary/Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati (vlloydsgam@aol.com)
Agent: Rubin Pfeffer Content
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Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a finished copy of KIN, US Only.
Ends September
19th, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Special thanks to Rockstar Book Tours for the chance to bring this tour to you and to the publisher for the copy for review. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, the publisher, this tour, or those on this horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. Be sure to check out the rest of the tour for more...
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
Week Two:
Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
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