Vision of Beauty: Candlewick Biographies: The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker

by Kathryn Lasky, Nneka Bennett (Illustrator)

Overview

"This impressive picture book will delight young readers as it gives a sense of this remarkable woman and the times in which she lived." — School Library Journal (starred review)

An inspiring biography of a woman who rose from a bleak world of poverty and discrimination to unprecedented success as an influential businesswoman and philanthropist. Born December 23, 1867, Sarah Breedlove Walker was the youngest and first freeborn child in her family. As sharecroppers, their lives were hard, but slavery had ended, and the Breedlove family was free. And if you were free, you could dream.
Back matter includes an epilogue, an illustrator’s note, sources, and an index.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763660925
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/11/2012
Series:	Candlewick Biographies
Pages:	56
Sales rank:	1,149,836
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	960L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kathryn Lasky says, "When I was a little girl growing up in Indianapolis, I loved having a lemonade stand. One of my very early memories is coming into the kitchen with a jar full of money and my mother exclaiming, 'Goodness, Kathryn, maybe you'll grow up to be the next Madam Walker!'" Kathryn Lasky lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Nneka Bennett studied animation and illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. She has illustrated many books for children and currently lives in East Orange, New Jersey.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This impressive...book will delight young readers as it gives a sense of this remarkable woman and the times in which she lived.
—School Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

Lasky (A Brilliant Streak: The Making of Mark Twain; Science Fair Bunnies, reviewed above) chronicles the life of Sarah Breedlove Walker, who was born in 1870 in Louisiana to former slaves and became the richest African-American woman of her times and a major philanthropist. Her childhood was marked by dire hardships: by seven she was an orphan and working full-time as a laundress; by 20 she was a widow and a mother, beginning to go bald from years of poor nutrition and hard labor. In her 30s, she experimented with natural ingredients and chemicals and created a formula to restore the health of both hair and scalp. Beginning with door-to-door demonstrations in "colored" women's kitchens, she built her business into the Mme. C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, by 1912 "one of the biggest companies in America." Lasky is better at conveying the young Sarah's suffering than she is at suggesting the texture of Walker's adult life, but she does a good job explaining the sociocultural factors affecting African-American women's attitudes toward hair. Bennett's (Gettin' Through Thursday; Cherish Me) soft-focus pencil and watercolor pictures suggest Walker's personality, although they tend to be short on action. Ironically, the illustrator's concluding note, in which she speaks as a black woman about her own attitudes toward beauty, may be for many readers the most affecting passages here. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 2-4-Through a readable text and wonderful illustrations, Lasky brings to life one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the United States. The author's research is extremely thorough, including interviews with her subject's great-great granddaughter. The narrative traces Breedlove's girlhood as the first free-born child of former slaves in Louisiana to her hard life as a laundress and single mother in St. Louis. The text explains that her interest in natural plants and oils to treat the hair of "colored" women stemmed from her own experience with damaged hair. Working with formulas in her own small laboratory, Breedlove began producing hair products. After her marriage to Charles Walker, she was able to open a factory in Pittsburgh. To sell her products, she enlisted black women of all ages to market them door to door. By 1912, the Mme. C. J. Walker Company was one of the largest companies in America. Lasky emphasizes the contributions of Walker and the company to the well being of black women and the community. Bennett's full-page watercolors give faces to the characters without overwhelming the text. Their pacing and placement help move the story along. This impressive picture book will delight young readers as it gives a sense of this remarkable woman and the times in which she lived.-Barbara Buckley, Rockville Centre Public Library, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

School Library Journal

The girl who was to become Mme. C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove, in poverty, to ex-slave, sharecropper parents in rural Louisiana in1876. Orphaned at seven, married at fourteen, she was a widowed mother of a three-year-old daughter at only nineteen. As the first African-American woman entrepreneur, she transformed the image of African-American women, identifying and marketing products for their unique cosmetic and beauty needs. Lasky (A Brilliant Streak, 1998, etc.) has crafted an inspirational narrative that effectively turns on a succession of dramatic or emblematic moments in Mme. Walker's life: hearing Margaret (Mrs. Booker T.) Washington speak; praying and dreaming of Africa; being inspired to use herbs and natural oils to cure her hair loss; giving her own speech (the only one by a woman) at the National Negro Business League. Walker created a beauty empire based on direct sales. Facing racism and sexism, she developed her own formularies, designed her own advertising, built her own factories, hired women managers, and trained her army of direct-sales representatives. She validated pride, demonstrating a unique definition of beauty free from the standards of the majority culture. Walker's life continues to resonate as a model for self-realization, self-sufficiency, and community-building. Lasky effectively uses actual quotes while "responsibly imagining" situations to best reflect her subject's life and experiences. Lasky also opted for the use of the term "colored" as a more historically accurate term. Bennett's earth-toned, full-page, pencil and watercolor paintings add immediacy and intimacy while advancing the narrative.(Picturebook/biography. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews

This impressive...book will delight young readers as it gives a sense of this remarkable woman and the times in which she lived.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

From the Publisher