An American Story

PreS-Gr 3–Ms. Simmons needs her students to know, but “How do you tell a story/ this hard to hear,/ one that hurts/ and still loves?” Music—rhythmic, plaintive, chanting, beckoning—begins and ends Gonzalez’s powerful performance that confronts the challenges of teaching the horrific reality of slavery to young children. That the aural adaptation opens with dedications by both Alexander and artist Dare Coulter and finishes with “A Note from the Author” as well as “A Note from the Illustrator,” clearly indicates that to read and listen in tandem is the recommended method for the most edifying consumption. Coulter’s extraordinary visuals that took six years to create—clay and polymer sculptures, acrylic and spray paint on wood panels, charcoal drawings on gessoed paper—bestow upon Alexander’s verses heightened resonance.