Marie Bradby

More Than Anything Else is a powerful story of a young African-American boy that, although free, still works from sun-up to sundown in a salt factory. This young boy does not shirk any of his responsibility to help his family he just wants to read. I really liked this book but I think it is because I can relate to the history behind the story. I wonder if school-aged children today would understand the powerful need this young boy feels.
The illustrations are done with watercolor. The show more pictures are dark and as though life only takes place in the dark. There is only one picture that is light and that is when the boy and his family are working at the saltworks. The facial expressions of the characters show people that work hard everyday to just get by yet the reader can feel the love between the families. The illustrations play a large roll in the impact of this book.
The story is told in first person with Booker telling his story. The need for him to read comes through so loud throughout the story. “I see a man reading a newspaper aloud and all doubts falls away. I have found the hope, and it is as brown as me.” This is a great example of how much Booker wants to read. “They don’t see what I see. They don’t see what I can be.” He is talking about his family not being able to see his potential, especially if he could read. Writing this book in first person made it so much stronger.
This book has the ability to show its readers that reading is not something we should take for granted. Although everyone is given the opportunity to learn to read today it was not always the case in history. Being able to read was a privilege and something many were denied. Reading a story like this helps the reader to have an appreciation for what they have today. show less

This had the potential to be an outstanding book, but the author chose to be coy about the context and not reveal the name of the protagonist until the penultimate page. Even for grownups, it’s confusing. A lot of reviewers seem to think that Booker’s family (that’s a spoiler! What kind of biography is it where the subject’s name is a spoiler?!) is enslaved; a bit of research confirmed my impression that it’s set during Reconstruction. Again, that’s pretty basic information to show more leave out.

I’m 100 years closer in age to my grandchildren than Booker, and I have to supply context when I tell them about my childhood. If this book had been narrated by an elderly, reminiscent Booker who supplied necessary information about his background and perhaps his later accomplishments (at least to the extent of “I went to college and founded a college so other young Black people could get an education”), it would have been a far less confusing book and I would have kept it. show less

When a young girl sits by her mother ontheporch on a summer's eve, she asks her mother about her roots -- Where is she from?

Told in poetic fashion with beautiful illustrations, rather than give the name of a specific area, her mother answers her daughter with memorable images of Monday morning washing of clothes that are placed through the old wringer washing machine, and then hung on the line to dry.

There are memories told of green, lima and pea beans picked, snapped and shelled to simmer show more on the back of the stove, there is a peddler who stops to show all the fresh fish he has for sale. A rag man stop by the house on a cold winter's eve asking the family if there are rags he might buy from them.

There is also a delivery truck containing much wanted cold ice for a blazign hot day. Miss Mary stops by and waves every day on her way home from work. The children walk many miles to be taught with their other classmates -- all of them black, light brown, or in between.

There is a swing that goes high, higher, highest when her mother was pushed way up to try to catch the clouds. And, on Friday evenings, there is a fish fry, cherry pie and ice cream as well as a tub of cold, cold bottles of pop.

The answer to the young girl's question to her mother is all of the above. She is from a place where wonderful memories were made. show less

I really enjoyed this book for a few reasons. For one, I really enjoyed the author's voice. Bradby wrote with a lot of character and her writing was very enjoyable because her voice was very strong. For instance, the author wrote, "I'm from beans- green, lima, and pea-picked, strung, snapped and shelled into pans." In addition, the author also used African American vernacular dialect which also made the story more relatable. For instance, the author talked a lot about African American show more heritage and traditions and it was appropriate for her to use "informal dialect" in order to show how their family interacted and the importance of their heritage. Adding to that, the author also uses sentence fragments throughout the book. The author wrote, "Where families grew into a neighborhood as close as a knit sweater..." The sentence fragments worked well in this book and the writing was very effective. and intentional. The purpose of this book was to share African American heritage and family traditions and this book was very successful and I really enjoyed reading it. show less