Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America

by Andrea Pinkney, Brian Pinkney (Illustrator)

Overview

HAND IN HAND presents the stories of ten men from different eras in American history, organized chronologically to provide a scope from slavery to the modern day. The stories are accessible, fully-drawn narratives offering the subjects’ childhood influences, the time and place in which they lived, their accomplishments and motivations, and the legacies they left for future generations as links in the “freedom chain.” This book will be the definitive family volume on the subject, punctuated with dynamic full color portraits and spot illustrations by two-time Caldecott Honor winner and multiple Coretta Scott King Book Award recipient Brian Pinkney. Backmatter includes a civil rights timeline, sources, and further reading.

Profiled:
Benjamin Banneker
Frederick Douglass
Booker T. Washington
W.E.B. DuBois
A. Philip Randolph
Thurgood Marshall
Jackie Robinson
Malcolm X
Martin Luther King, Jr
Barack H. Obama II

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423142577
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/23/2012
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	541,664
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	970L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Andrea Davis Pinkney has written several acclaimed books for middle grade readers, including the novels Bird in a Box, a Today Show Al Roker Book Club pick, and With the Might of Angels, a book in the Dear America series. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor winner. Andrea’s many picture books include Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, a New York Times best-seller and a Jane Addams Honor Book, which wasillustrated by her husband, Brian Pinkney. She and her family live in Brooklyn, New York.

Brian Pinkney (www.brianpinkney.net) has frequently collaborated with his wife, Andrea Davis Pinkney. Some of their other books include, Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride, Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation, and Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, for which Brian was awarded a Caldecott Honor. Brian was also a Caldecott Honoree for The Faithful Friend by Robert D. San Souci , and he won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for In the Time of the Drums by Kim L.Siegelson.

Editorial Reviews

…beautifully written book…the entire volume is movingly enhanced by poetry and by the inviting, creative illustrations of Brian Pinkney, the author's husband…Hand in Hand provides a light that could help guide men out of the darkness in which all too many are forced to live.
—Charlayne Hunter-Gault

The New York Times Book Review

Ten influential black men—including Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, and Martin Luther King Jr.—are profiled in this husband-and-wife team’s vibrant collaboration. Andrea Davis Pinkney introduces her subjects with powerful poems, before moving into image-rich, introspective, and candid descriptions of each man’s influence on civil rights, culture, art, or politics: “ thought carefully about some of the beliefs he’d held in the past, and how they supported the idea that he’d been brainwashed by whites. For example, straightening his hair was Malcolm’s attempt to deny his black heritage by trying to look ‘more white.’” Brian Pinkney’s portraits of each man echo the multidimensional prose with their bold strokes and dynamic swirls of color. An examination of Barack Obama’s life and presidential election carries readers into the present day, placing the achievements of those who came before him into perspective. Though the text-heavy format may initially daunt some readers, the inviting narrative voice and eloquent portrayal of these iconic men and the times in which they lived make for memorable reading. Ages 9–12. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"A unique historical approach, superbly handled."—Walter Dean Myers

"[The] stories in this beautifully written book are equally fascinating, and entire volume is movingly enhanced by poetry and by the inviting, creative illustrations of Brian Pinkney."—New York Times

"The inviting narrative and eloquent portrayal of these iconic men and the times in which they lived make for memorable reading."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher

Gr 5–8—This book is similar in scope to the author's Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters (Harcourt, 2000. The subjects here include Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, A. Philip Randolph, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Barack Obama, all introduced in the author's characteristically lively prose ("Black students kept on keeping on with dog-eared textbooks and dog-tired feet"; Malcolm Little's hair was transformed from "pretty-boy cotton-kink to slick-daddy bone-straight"). The distinct experiences that shaped each man are ably delineated-the childhood events, the hardships faced, the richly deserved victories won-and the results are, without exception, compelling. The large font size is perfect for the middle-grade audience, but too many blocks of unbroken text may turn away less-confident readers. Thankfully, Brian Pinkney's magnificent portraits and spot art throughout each profile help to amplify each man's story. A must-have for all libraries serving young people.Sam Bloom, Blue Ash Library, Cincinnati, OH

School Library Journal

Addressing the appetites of readers "hungry for role models," this presents compellingly oratorical pictures of the lives and characters of 10 African-American men who exemplify a "birthright of excellence." Each of the chronologically arranged chapters opens with a tone-setting praise song and a commanding close-up portrait. From Benjamin Banneker, whose accusatory letter to slaveholder Thomas Jefferson "socked it straight / to the secretary of state," to Barack Obama, who "turned Yes, we can! into a celebration call," the gallery is composed of familiar names. Instead of rehashing well-chewed biographical fodder, though, the author dishes up incidents that shaped and tested her subjects' moral and intellectual fiber along with achievements that make her chosen few worth knowing and emulating. Carping critics may quibble about the occasional arguable fact and an implication that Rosa Parks' protest was spontaneous, but like Malcolm X, Pinkney has such "a hot-buttered way with words" that her arguments are as convincing as they are forceful, and her prose, rich as it is in rolling cadences and internal rhymes, never waxes mannered or preachy. A feast for readers whose eyes are (or should be) on the prize, in a volume as well-turned-out as the dapper W.E.B. Dubois, who was "more handsome than a fresh-cut paycheck." (timeline, index, lists of recommended reading and viewing) (Collective biography. 10-15)

Kirkus Reviews

Read More