Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis - Hardcover

Asim, Jabari

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399168567 ISBN 13: 9780399168567

Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2016

Synopsis

A New York Times Best Illustrated Book

Critically acclaimed author Jabari Asim and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis give readers a fascinating glimpse into the boyhood of Civil Rights leader John Lewis.
 
John wants to be a preacher when he grows up—a leader whose words stir hearts to change, minds to think, and bodies to take action. But why wait? When John is put in charge of the family farm’s flock of chickens, he discovers that they make a wonderful congregation! So he preaches to his flock, and they listen, content under his watchful care, riveted by the rhythm of his voice.
 
Celebrating ingenuity and dreaming big, this inspirational story, featuring Jabari Asim’s stirring prose and E. B. Lewis’s stunning, light-filled impressionistic watercolor paintings, includes an author’s note about John Lewis, who grew up to be a member of the Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and demonstrator on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. John Lewis is now a Georgia congressman, who is still an activist today, recently holding a sit-in on the House floor of the U.S. Capitol to try to force a vote on gun violence. His March: Book Three recently won the National Book Award, as well as the American Library Association's Coretta Scott King Author Award, Printz Award, and Sibert Award.

About this title

About the Author

Jabari Asim (www.facebook.com/jabariasimwriter) is the author of several adult and children’s books, including Fifty Cents and a Dream—an NAACP Image Award Nominee, CCBC Choice, School Library Journal Editor’s Choice, and Kirkus Best Book. He is an associate professor at Emerson College in Boston and executive editor of The Crisis, the magazine of the NAACP. He recently was honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.
 
E. B. Lewis (www.eblewis.com) is the acclaimed illustrator of more than seventy books for children, including the Caldecott Honor Book Coming On Home Soon and the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Each Kindness (both by Jacqueline Woodson). He teaches at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He lives in Folsom, New Jersey.

Reviews

Gr 2–5—Luminous artwork and stirring text shed light on the childhood of one of America's most respected civil rights leaders. Young John Lewis found his calling early in life, tenderly caring for the many chickens on the family farm and emulating his church's ministers by preaching to the attentive hens: "'Blessed are the peacemakers,' he'd say when [the chickens] fought over their morning meal. 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,' he would tell a hen who didn't want to share, 'for they shall be satisfied.'" The future Freedom Rider and U.S. congressman would even baptize newly hatched chicks. When a local businessman stopped by the farm to make a trade for one of Lewis's hens, the bighearted boy sagely figured out a way to make a transaction without handing over one of his beloved chickens. Lewis's strong faith and his deep connection to his family and community shine through in Asim's straightforward text and illustrator E.B. Lewis's full-page, light-dappled watercolors. An author's note briefly discusses Lewis's leadership in the March on Washington and other key events of the civil rights movement and explains that Asim based the story on Lewis's own recollections. VERDICT A quietly powerful and joyful look at the childhood of a living legend and a superb introduction to studying heroes of the civil rights era.—Kiera Parrott, School Library Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0399168567
• ISBN 13: 9780399168567
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Lewis E. B.
• Number of pages: 32