An American Story

How do you tell a painful part of history to children? This is the question artist Kwame Alexander faced after an incident at his daughter’s school, and this book is his poetic response. It’s worth quoting his author’s note from the end of the book in full:

"I wrote this story after a racially charged incident happened in my daughter’s fourth grade classroom. They were learning about life in the thirteen colonies without discussing the impact and trauma of slavery. During a parent-teacher conference to discuss the matter, my daughter’s teacher became defensive. We realized that her anxiety came from a fear of teaching slavery, which stemmed from the fact that she was never taught how to teach slavery in the classroom. It became show more apparent that so many schools don’t prepare their students to fully understand the truth about slavery. Because it’s scary. And hard. I believe An American Story can help give us a way to speak the truth to children, so we can all stop being afraid, so we can start moving closer to our better selves."

“How do you tell a story / that starts in Africa / and ends in horror?” he begins and concludes with “You do it by being brave enough to lift your voice, / by holding history in one hand / and clenching hope in the other.” In between these opening and closing verses are a narrative of grief, struggle, and hope powerfully illustrated in sculpture, drawing, and paint by Coulter starting with the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and arriving in a 21st century classroom. It’s a stunning achievement. show less

This book game me shivers. It is an incredible story that brings us through the history of slavery in the eyes of the children involved. The book moves back and forth from a teacher reading to her students and the questions they ask are answered by the story we read together. This is a relatively short picture book in terms of words per page, which makes it the perfect read aloud. The illustrations are incredible and so unfamiliar to most students that they are taken aback right away. This is a must have in all libraries.

"How do you tell that story?
About copper dreams wrapped in iron chains.

"How do you tell that story and not want to weep for the world?"

"you do it by being brave enough to lift your voice
by holding history in one hand
and clenching hope in the other."

Ladies and Gentlemen, may this book be remembered come 2023 Youth Media Awards time. Because Kwame Alexander delivers utter brilliance.

Inspired by the realization that many teachers are not prepared to teach their students about slavery, Alexander wrote An American Story to "help give us a way to speak the truth to children."

Artist Dare Coulter's magnificent mixed media illustrations (ceramic and polymer clay sculptures, spray paint, digital paint, acrylic, charcoal, graphite, ink on wood panel, Photoshop and ProCreate) depict the life in Africa, the experience of slavery, and kids in a modern classroom trying to make sense of history, together with their teacher. Coulter's use of the gutter is some of the most effective I've ever seen: some pages are full-bleed double-page-spreads, while others juxtapose Africans' life before white slavetraders arrived, with whites' show more waiting to capture them; or a Black boy picking cotton with a white boy reading a book in a garden. Classroom scenes look like realistic sketches in charcoal/graphite on a sunny yellow background, contrasting with the 3D look of the historical scenes.

"You can't change the past, but you can do better in the future."

Back matter: author's note, illustrator's note

See also: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Renee Watson, Nikkolas Smith; That Flag by Tameka Fryer Brown and Nikkolas Smith show less

This book would be great for ages first through fourth grade because I feel as though there are different levels to think of this book. I would use this book as a read aloud and then have a worksheet to follow up and have students critically think about what we just read. This book was about how African Americans got taken away from families and how they were “expected” to live. This is a very powerful book

Written as if a teacher is teaching students about slavery, this book walks through the history of slavery, celebrating the culture that was and then was stolen, as well as the heartache of slavery from all different stories. The author note lets the reader know that the story idea came about after a parent-teacher conference where it became evident that the teacher was afraid to teach about slavery, because they didn't feel equipped to share such a hard topic.

A beautiful poem that blends history and current feelings. It is about a teacher trying to teach about slavery in the US but doesn't know how. At one point she wants to stop but the children want her to continue. BEAUTIFUL!