The New York Times - Pamela Paul
…a book meant to engage its young audience viscerally. It is a sumptuous, deeply affecting work…Nelson's paintings are drenched here in ambience and emotion…known to be a man of few words…his text here is spare but effective. He doesn't embellish when direct prose works on its own…
From the Publisher
A beautifully designed book that will resonate with children and the adults who wisely share it with them.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“An extremely powerful picture-book biography of South Africa’s first black president. It’s a solid biography in its own right, but thanks to Nelson’s characteristically stunning paintings, it soars.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A dramatic encounter indeed.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“This picture-book biography matches Mandela’s outsize achievements with large, powerful images, resulting in a presentation that will seize and hold readers’ attention.” — School Library Journal
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
A dramatic encounter indeed.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
A dramatic encounter indeed.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
A dramatic encounter indeed.
Kirkus Reviews
An inspirational ode to the life of the great South African leader by an award-winning author and illustrator. Mandela's has been a monumental life, a fact made clear on the front cover, which features an imposing, full-page portrait. The title is on the rear cover. His family gave him the Xhosa name Rolihlahla, but his schoolteacher called him Nelson. Later, he was sent to study with village elders who told him stories about his beautiful and fertile land, which was conquered by European settlers with more powerful weapons. Then came apartheid, and his protests, rallies and legal work for the cause of racial equality led to nearly 30 years of imprisonment followed at last by freedom for Mandela and for all South Africans. "The ancestors, / The people, / The world, / Celebrated." Nelson's writing is spare, poetic, and grounded in empathy and admiration. His oil paintings on birch plywood are muscular and powerful. Dramatic moments are captured in shifting perspectives; a whites-only beach is seen through a wide-angle lens, while faces behind bars and faces beaming in final victory are masterfully portrayed in close-up. A beautifully designed book that will resonate with children and the adults who wisely share it with them. (author's note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)
