Book Description Review Shana Keller does a beautiful job of weaving together a nonfiction narrative that allows readers a glimpse into the early life of Fredrick Douglass. The illustrations by Kayla Stark capture the historic period and draw readers into the story. Her use of color and detail creates beautiful images. This is a perfect book for any historical unit or celebration of Black History Month. –Picture Books for LearningAnother wonderful picture book to add to your personal collection. Kindergarten through 4th grade teachers should add it to their classroom libraries and use it during Black History Month. –Carol Baldwin’s BlogFascinating, motivational, and brimming with tenacity, this true story of Frederick Douglass as a young boy is certain to captivate young and old alike. –Kendal Rautzhan (syndicated columnist) Read more Customers Review: Inspirational story for both children and adults. The wonderful illustrations capture your attention and help to make this book a real keeper to share now and with future generations. I highly recommend this book!
Beautifully illustrated by Kayla Stark, this is another wonderful picture book to add to your personal collection. Kindergarten through 4th grade teachers should add it to their classroom libraries and use it during Black History Month.Written in the first person point of view, the book opens with this remarkable statement: “I know where I was born, not when.”Frederick wasn’t at all happy about giving up his freedom and although he met his brothers and sisters at the Great House Farm, he was so sad to leave his grandmother that he didn’t even play with them.He met Daniel, the young boy who lived in the great house and they hunted and fished together. “Except for the color of our skin, it was hard to know why we were different.”Frederick wanted to learn how to read and write, but he learned early on that it was illegal, unlawful, and unsafe for him to become literate.Perhaps it was because he showed the master’s family that he was just like Daniel, he was sent away from the plantation to live with the family’s kin. Conditions were better for him and the master’s wife began to teach him.But, his new master disapproved and forbade her teaching.”From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. If I learned to read, I could loosen the changes of bondage.”Frederick’s jobs including escorting young Thomas to school and running errands for the family. When we met some hungry boys on the streets, he remembered how it felt to be hungry and he came up with a plan.Frederick copied letters he saw at the shipyard and wrote them on fences, brick walls, and the pavement. He copied letters from Thomas’s discarded copybooks.Finally, after seven years, he taught himself how to read.This inspirational book ends with a summary of Frederick Douglass’ life and why Ms. Keller chose to write the book as she did. Notice in some of the illustrations above, the words in bold are Frederick’s exact words taken from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. In keeping with Ms. Keller’s example, I put words in bold that I copied from Bread for Words that were Mr. Douglass’ exact words.
This was an excellent story! It described slavery in a way that wasn’t too scary for small children but was still honestly accurate. But it also showed how Frederick Douglass overcame slavery and found a way out.There are so many places where this book could be used. There are obvious places like history lessons or cultural diversity lessons, but this would also be a good book for inspiring new readers to learn to read. It would be helpful for students who are struggling with any kind of school work. Frederick Douglass is such a great role model and can inspire so many different people in different situations.My boys are 5 and 8 and they both loved this book. It brought up some good questions for discussion. They loved hearing how Frederick Douglass persevered, and they were impressed about how he overcame and escaped slavery. My boys loved hearing how Frederick Douglass was so keen to learn to read that he traded bread and played trickster games with other boys to learn to read and write.I also found it very helpful that there was a page of biographical information at the end of the book which helped me answer some of the questions that my children had.I did receive a copy of this book free in return for my review; however, the review is my own opinion. I loved the book and am so glad that I was able to share it with my children. It will be coming out again many times!
I am thrilled to see a trend of picture books being written in a first-person narrative. I believe it adds another layer of depth to a historical setting. Frederick Douglass is famous for his fight and determination to receive an education. “Bread for Words” focuses more on his childhood journey as he learned to read.The story follows a young Douglass as he grows up in Maryland. Every time he expressed interest in learning he was told that it was not an option. His constant thirst for knowledge would anger his owners and sometimes he was moved to other places so that he wouldn’t continue to focus on education. One morning he realized that the young boys on the street looked around his age and, they also looked hungry. Fredrick began to bring a book with him and extra bread. Slowly he started to learn the letters in the books until he could read and write. His perseverance allowed him to become unstoppable in his life. Shana Keller did a beautiful job of weaving together a nonfiction narrative that allows readers a glimpse into the early life of Fredrick Douglass. The illustrations by Kayla Stark capture the historic period and draw readers into the story. Her use of color and detail creates beautiful images. This is a perfect book for any historical unit or celebration of Black History Month.
With excellent life detail choices, this author gave me new insight into how this inspirational man never gave up despite tremendous forces against him. Knowledge is truly power and now I am grateful for my education that I know I took for granted. The illustrations are colorful and help tell the story with historical details in the settings. |
5 reviews