From: Robin Smith <smithr>
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 18:00:28 -0600

Until the CSK announcement, I had not read Freedom River or Uptown. Collier's art is simply stunning. Uptown sings to its own beat and the illustrations are the harmony. I love the work of artist Romare Bearden and Collier's work reminds me of Bearden.

Children, even in my nearly all-white class of second graders, responded with enthusiasm to Uptown. They really liked the brownstones that looked like chocolate bars, the basketball courts and the flashy Apollo Theater. They were able to see that the boy in the story loved his neighborhood just like they loved theirs. Earlier in the year we had read Byrd Baylor's The Best Town in the World and one of my students made an unsolicited comparison to the feeling of that book (set in the West's canyon country) and Uptown. Hurray!
  I thought I knew just about all the unsung heroes and sheroes of history but Freedom River, written by Doreen Rappaport, told the gripping tale of John Parker, whom I did not know. Collier's torn paper collages in dark tones made a gripping tale all the more suspenseful and memorable. Though most books about the Underground Railroad are stories of night escapes and movement, this one really captured the feeling of what it might be like to escape in the night with someone right behind you. I appreciated the map of the river and the historical notes at the end.

Robin Smith Nashville, Tennessee
Received on Tue 06 Feb 2001 06:00:28 PM CST