A Song for August: The Inspiring Life of Playwright August Wilson

by Sally Denmead, Alleanna Harris (Illustrator)

Overview

An ode to one of America's foremost Black playwrights, August Wilson, and a meditation on culture, erasure, and what ultimately drives an artist's desire to create.

August Wilson grew up open to the creative inspiration in everything he encountered: in library books, in music, in artworks, in the lively conversations overheard in the restaurants and barbershops lining the Pittsburgh neighborhood of his childhood. August paid attention. He listened. And when he got older, he got ideas about what to do with everything he’d seen and heard — ideas that would make him one of the greatest playwrights in American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646144396
Publisher:	Levine Querido
Publication date:	08/06/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	499,324
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sally Denmead is an opera singer, director, and actor who moved from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh, where she fell in love with the plays of August Wilson. This is her first book.

Author Residency: Pittsburgh, PA

Alleanna Harris is a children's book illustrator and artist. As a kid, she would doodle on notebooks in school and on programs in church. She graduated from the University of the Arts with a BFA in animation with honors. Harris lives in New Jersey.

llustrator Residency: New Jersey

Editorial Reviews

Debut author Denmead takes readers on the journey through the life of American playwright August Wilson… Readers will appreciate the obstacles August overcame to become an iconic playwright… Highlighting Wilson’s talent and determination, Denmead helps readers appreciate his genius.” – Booklist

“Harris’s emotionally resonant illustrations (sketches composed with digital ink pens and finished using digital gouache brushes) support Denmead’s lyrical narrative and inspirational tone.” – Horn Book

“A warm introduction to a master of American drama.” – Kirkus

From the Publisher

10/18/2024

Gr 1–5—This biography elegantly recounts award-winning, acclaimed poet and playwright August Wilson's formative years. Wilson was born in an industrial urban city of "smoke and soot" during the height of the war, racialized tensions, and loneliness, yet "there was a song inside of him." He found delight and creativity amongst the mundane, then one day, "he felt his song going to sleep." Wilson goes on to write to express his inspiration towards a historical figure, Napoleon Bonaparte, and "wrote a paper so good, his teacher didn't believe he wrote it." Denmead's account animates the story of young Wilson as he becomes fulfilled by freedom from formal school structures, grasps the power of words, books, libraries, and "food he didn't know he was hungry for," the blues, then realizes "his own song" as he "uses the voice of his own soul to rise up." Harris's serene hues skillfully depict Wilson's desire for creativity through visions of wonder and a typewriter. He subsequently brings still and silent characters to life and finds success in theater arts by chronicling Black American experiences of slavery, freedom, and civil rights. VERDICT Denmead provides readers with a scope of Wilson's early life and artistry; she promotes the value of his expressiveness as his achievements are still relevant and have an ongoing cultural impact on modern points of view.—Kimberly Filmore

School Library Journal

2024-04-20
A playwright draws inspiration from his community and his history.

August Wilson (1945-2005) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, just as World War II was ending. His father, a German immigrant, abandoned the family; his mother, a Black woman, earned a living by cleaning houses. August learned to read at an early age; he loved words and their musical sounds but struggled in school, where racist white students bullied him. He worked tirelessly on a history report on Napoleon, but when the teacher refused to believe August had written the paper, he stopped going to school, instead spending his days reading in the public library. He tried, unsuccessfully, to write about the people his artist friends depicted in their work, but once he imagined the characters describing their own experiences, his writing took off. Eventually he created the Century Cycle, a series of plays each representing a different decade of the 20th century. They captured the experiences of African Americans: “a story of family and history, of slavery and freedom.” Writing in straightforward prose, Denmead illustrates how August Wilson turned a difficult childhood, his love of learning, and his connection to his people’s stories into a body of literature with major cultural impact. The detailed author’s note provides enlightening context about the reception of August’s work and the many accolades he received. Capturing August’s loneliness, frustration, and joy, Harris’ digital art enhances the text with period details.

A warm introduction to a master of American drama. (August Wilson’s Century Cycle) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews