Kin: Rooted in Hope
Description
A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
An “imaginative and moving” (The Horn Book, starred review) portrait of a Black family tree shaped by enslavement and freedom, rendered in searing poems by acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford and stunning art by her son Jeffery Boston Weatherford.
I call their names:
Abram Alice Amey Arianna Antiqua
I call their names:
Isaac Jake James Jenny Jim
Every last one, property of the Lloyds,
the state’s preeminent enslavers.
Every last one, with a mind of their own
and a story that ain’t yet been told.
Till now.
Carole and Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s ancestors are among the founders of Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in slavery, their family tree can only be traced back five generations before going dark. And so from scraps of history, Carole and Jeffery have conjured the voices of their kin, creating an often painful but ultimately empowering story of who their people were in a breathtaking book that is at once deeply personal yet all too universal.
Carole’s poems capture voices ranging from her ancestors to Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman to the plantation house and land itself that connects them all, and Jeffery’s evocative illustrations help carry the story from the first mention of a forebear listed as property in a 1781 ledger to he and his mother’s homegoing trip to Africa in 2016. Shaped by loss, erasure, and ultimate reclamation, this is the story of not only Carole and Jeffery’s family, but of countless other Black families in America.
Praise for Kin: Rooted in Hope
* "Coretta Scott King Award winner and National Book Award finalist Carole Boston Weatherford (Unspeakable) teams up once again with illustrator son Jeffery Boston Weatherford (You Can Fly) to explore their shared past and honor their enslaved ancestors through dignified poems and stunning artwork. . . Weatherford's rhythmic and artistic narrative, inspired by Alex Haley's novel Roots, brings to life her ancestors, the places they lived, and their oppression. . . Jefferey Boston Weatherford accompanies his mother's poems with expressive black-and-white scratchwork illustrations that add further weight, humanity, and grandeur to the history."
— Shelf Awareness, STARRED REVIEW
Weatherford and her son have created a poetic meditation on the process of researching ancestry, with a specific focus on those who are descended from those who were enslaved. . . Poems include chilling information drawn from primary sources . . . Dramatic scratchboard illustrations throughout the book allow the tone of the poems to switch swiftly from lighter to darker topics. . . A unique book that will be appreciated by the right readers, especially those familiar with Kwame Alexander’s The Door of No Return.
— School Library Journal
"With lacerating beauty, Weatherford offers up a series of poems that both document and are inspired by her search to trace her heritage beyond her enslaved ancestors’ arrival in the Americas. . . Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s stunning, scratchboard art highlights the dignity of the enslaved people while indicting those that enslave them; closeups of hands picking fruit and arms enveloping babies emanate with humanity while bright eyes peer at the reader with fierce determination. This is not an easy read, but it is gorgeously rendered and, when paired with Henderson’s Dear Yesteryear, can show how art reckons with history better than any textbook."
— The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"The lineage of a Black family comes to life through powerful poems. . . the author pieces together the history of enslavement, her strength and resolve palpable as she tells of her family’s triumphs despite the conditions they were forced to bear. Raw, stark, digitally rendered scratchboard illustrations multiply the depth of her profound words. . . A striking work that reshapes the narrative around enslavement."
— Kirkus Reviews
"The lineage of a Black family comes to life through powerful poems. . . the author pieces together the history of enslavement, her strength and resolve palpable as she tells of her family’s triumphs despite the conditions they were forced to bear. Raw, stark, digitally rendered scratchboard illustrations multiply the depth of her profound words. . . A striking work that reshapes the narrative around enslavement."
— Kirkus Reviews
* "Carole Boston Weatherford deftly weaves a myriad of locations, entities, and mindsets into her imaginative and moving chronicle . . . Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s scratchboard and digital black-and-white renderings match the poems’ intensity, with the compositions’ points of view being as dynamic and varied as the styles of verse. Fans of Bryan’s Freedom over Me and Nelson’s Heart and Soul will appreciate this extensively researched and deeply felt genealogical exploration."
— Horn Book Magazine, STARRED REVIEW
"The Weatherfords—a mother-son duo—pay tribute to their enslaved ancestors’ pain and resilience across generations in this moving collection of illustrated poems, inspired by Alex Haley’s Roots. . . a layered text that highlights the perseverance of the Weatherfords’ ancestors and the horrors that they endured. . . a harrowing and motivational addition to enslaved peoples’ history."
— Publishers Weekly
"Through historical records and Weatherford’s rhythmic, imaginative style, her ancestors come to life, as does the reader’s journey through time . . . Weatherford’s work here is an impressive feat that nicely supplements any nonfiction work on the Middle Passage through the Civil War. The stark line illustrations on alternating black and white pages are a searing accompaniment to the verse, bringing these figures out of the darkness and deepening the humanity that glows in the pages. For fans of Kwame Alexander, Ashley Bryan, and Faith Ringgold."
— Booklist
