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What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week,
Featuring E. B. Lewis and Benny Andrews

h1 January 23rd, 2015 by jules


“It’s a peaceful spring and summer in Huntsville in 1963, but not elsewhere in Alabama. More than a thousand black children gather for a nonviolent protest in a Birmingham park. They are met with gushing fire hoses and snarling dogs. …
Two hundred thousand people march for freedom in Washington,D.C.
Dr. King gives a speech, echoing the dream that black children and
white children will join hands in peace. It’s on television, nationwide.”
— From Hester Bass’ Seeds of Freedom, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
(Click to enlarge)


 


“When Benny’s military service was over, the government offered to pay his college tuition. He moved to Chicago to attend art school. It was the biggest city he had ever seen, full of many different kinds of people, towering buildings, and—best of all—museums. Benny could spend an entire day looking at art if he wanted.
He’d never felt so free.”
— From Kathleen Benson’s Draw What You See,
illustrated with paintings by Benny Andrews
(Click to enlarge and see full text)


 

This morning over at Kirkus, I’ve got some good, new picture books for very young readers. That link is here.

* * *

Last week I wrote here about Hester Bass’ Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama (Candlewick, January 2015), illustrated by E. B. Lewis, as well as Kathleen Benson’s Draw What You See: The Life and Art of Benny Andrews (Clarion, January 2015), which is illustrated with some of Andrews’ paintings. Today, I’m following up with a bit of art from each book.

Enjoy.


 

From Seeds of Freedom:


 


“A girl carries paper pictures of her feet because she won’t be allowed to try on shoes. A boy wants to read but cannot use the public library. And a family tries to eat in a restaurant, but the owner locks the door in their faces. …”
(Click to enlarge and see full text)


 



 

From Draw What You See:


 


“Benny was inspired by the people around him, and people were what he wanted to draw. He especially liked making paintings of the jazz musicians
in the city’s many clubs and cafés. …”
(Click to enlarge)


 


“After art school, Benny moved to New York City and became a working artist.
He had so many stories to tell. …”
(Click to enlarg)


 


* * * * * * *

DRAW WHAT YOU SEE: THE LIFE AND ART OF BENNY ANDREWS. Text copyright © 2015 by Kathleen Benson. Art copyright © The Estate of Benny Andrews/Licensed by VAGA, New York, New York. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Clarion Books, Boston.

SEEDS OF FREEDOM. Text copyright © 2015 by Hester Bass. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by E. B. Lewis. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.





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