I’ve enjoyed what amounts to a “front row seat” for several years since the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer and New Illustrator Awards were brought to the Fay B. Kaigler Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Part of the pleasure has come from watching the careers of those artists as they continue and grow. Don Tate won in each category in different years and has become a prolific writer and artist. In my opinion, his newest book that came out yesterday on November 1 is his best yet from both perspectives.
On the front flap and the back cover, Don says, “That’s what stories do. Protest injustice. Soothe. Teach. Inspire. Connect. Stories save lives.” Then he writes William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad and proves his point.
In lyrical language, Don tells William Still’s life story with a well-researched background in the time that he lived and of his role in establishing the Underground Railroad. An example comes as he sets the tone for the book with the young William and his first effort to help an enslaved man escape:
“The neighbors called him William.
The boy knew every nook and cranny
of the woods.
William led the man to safety,
Some twenty miles away.
The experience defined the rest of his life.”
Beginning with a brief history of his parents and William’s birth as the last of fifteen children, the account traces a difficult path to adulthood, working the Underground Railroad that includes a nice surprise, running a successful business, and eventually penning his autobiography.
Don’s illustrations are equally important to the story. I found myself spending time analyzing the feelings he puts into the faces of the people. And I particularly loved his use of deep blues and purples for darkness. He makes his words and pictures blend together into a story that a grandparent and grandchildren can enjoy reading and discussing more than once. (Parents make a good substitute if no grandparent can be found.)
I highly recommend this book. If you don’t have a child or grandchild near, you can always recommend it as a purchase for your local library and volunteer to read it to a young patron.