I See the Promised Land: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Hardcover

Flowers, Arthur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9380340044 ISBN 13: 9789380340043

Publisher: Tara Books, 2010

Synopsis

"Both evocative and factually rich...Older teens, in addition to adults, will find this to be a standout both as a distinctive graphic narrative that combines two world storytelling traditions and as an examination of King’s life and its enduring legacy across the globe." -Booklist Starred Review

"What excites me most here is how this approach can be used to reconnect the graphic novel to its many amazing antecedent narrative forms from around the world and reconfirms comics as a vast, unending human activity." Paul Gravett, author of Graphic Novels: Stories To Change Your Life

"This YA crossover shows King’s life expressed through Chitrakar’s rich Patua art and Flowers’s poetic text." Library Journal

I See the Promised Land traverses the milestones of Martin Luther King Jr.'s short life, ministry, and journey. This graphic narrative brings together two diverse yet dramatic traditions of storytelling. Renowned African American writer and griot Arthur Flowers tells a tale replete with destiny and the human condition to Manu Chitrakar's extraordinarily vivid and eloquent art of the Patua folk style of West Bengal, India.

About this title

About the Author:

Arthur Flowers: Arthur Flowers is an African-American writer and griot, bard and blues singer. He is the co-founder of the New Renaissance Writer's Guild. A native of Memphis, TN, he currently teaches in Syracuse University in New York state.

Manu Chitrakar: Manu Chitrakar is a Patua artist from West Bengal, India.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 7 Up-Who better to give Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life story the full mythopoeic treatment than the renowned African American novelist and performance poet. Flowers's hyper-vernacular language, swinging rhythms, and conspiratorial first-person tone lend his words a vivacity that is nearly audible. He weaves the entire history of the enslavement of black Americans into King's story, refers to unspecified gods taking an interest in affairs, and comments on King's speeches with impressive insight. Brilliant and engaging, Flowers's composition should be added to the MLK canon. The art is by a scroll painter from a small village in Bengal, India, who had never heard of Dr. King prior to this project. In some ways, this is a successful pairing. The vivid colors and bold forms of Patua are appropriately emphatic, and the naive style matches Flowers's references to "hoodoo" and his chosen narrative persona, Rickydoc Trickmaster. However, the images are repetitive, and it can be difficult to distinguish individuals. People often appear to be wearing inappropriately peaceful expressions; this, readers are informed in the back matter, is a characteristic of Patua style but might be puzzling for young people. Design also plays an important role. Images are cut into pieces for emphasis, text is artfully placed in blocks that not only enhance readability but also reinforce the counterpoint between narrative and commentary. A colorful and passionate addition to the Martin Luther King, Jr., bookshelf, perhaps best suited to classroom use.-Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MDα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tara Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 9380340044
• ISBN 13: 9789380340043
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 142
• Illustrator: Chitrakar Manu