This is a fictional story of those slaves who escaped and made homes in swampland, based on some truths, though little is really known of the details. Not new to me is the terrifying cruelty, but the love and help given so others may live is an inspiration. Escape to freedom feels like the underlying theme, hence the title. I know people don't give kids enough credit for being the smart, thoughtful, brave, and kind people they can be. In the wilderness of the swampland, Homer and little sister Ada take off for freedom and find a homeland like nothing they had dreamed of: families ready to take them in, new friends ready to guide and help them, and a kind of peace they've never known. Amina Luqman-Dawson's book fills readers with characters one is thrilled to meet who are varied in experience and temperament, too, and with such courage, readers will want to applaud. It's a plot that makes you race on to find out what will happen next, to care so much for the character's safety and welfare. I imagine you know that Amina Luqman-Dawson won the Newbery Medal this year for this, her debut novel. It is marvelous!
Featuring the newest special book by Anne Wynter (Everybody in The Red Brick Building with Oge Mora) and Daniel Miyares (Big and Small and In-Between with Ryan Higgins), the story is told mostly in verse, showing little Nell growing up with all the family, and with a pecan tree. Told in a truly special style, Anne Wynter goes back to the beginning, as in "Before a grip on a branch/and a fall to the ground. . . Nell picks up a seed." Throughout the illustrations of the story/memory, Daniel Miyares gives a peek at all the things that happen throughout the years as the tree grows and grows–big enough to climb far up to the very top, to gather nuts for a tasty pie, and for families to feast in the shade.
Though I never had a pecan tree in my yard, I do have wonderful memories of picking with my father in a large pecan grove near their home. Both Miyares and Wynter share their own memories in their notes at the back.
In one of his older books, Daniel Miyares creates a new and wonderful look at Langston Hughes' words in a contrasting look at Black lives, how it was and how it can be. Showing these children wishing first, then flying free as birds feels very good indeed! He writes about his reaction to the poem in a special personal note, too. This can be a good conversation about images in poetry and their impact when reading, or in writing. It's one to keep in your poetry collection.