Learning from N-F Picture Books

              Thanks to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at Kidlit Frenzy, those who link up share fabulous non-fiction picture books. I am grateful for all that I've learned through reading these books. 
          I'm taking a break until the new year, wishing everyone a wonderful holiday with family and friends, and peace in the new year.      

We discovered who Sally Hemings was some years ago, but little, according to the author's note at the back, is known about her children. In this story, we learn of one of her sons, among four children. Jonah Winter states that he has pieced together bits of information and fictionalized what might be James Madison Hemings' story. It is told by James himself,  one rightly given in a solemn way, of the mystery that his mother shared with the children that their father was an important man. There is little cheer shown and they eventually discovered that he was not only their father, he was their owner. At first, this was a mystery to the children. 
        Being so light-skinned and resembling that man so clearly, it wasn't easy to pretend that they knew nothing. They were "owned" and lived all together in one room in a kind of dungeon, but they were treated a little better than other slaves. They did not have to work in the fields. They were taught a trade. And luckily, James was taught to read by one of his father's grandchildren. Sometimes they could play in the big house. Finally, they were freed as they became adults. James lived the remaining part of his life as a master carpenter. The final sentence is chilling: "All I know is what I have told you here. This is my family history. And this is American history." It is good to have these stories told, but I continue to regret that in my own education, they were never told. The illustrations are serious portraits of this life, beautifully showing the life and the beauty of the home and land of Thomas Jefferson, who was James' father, that "important man".