Feed Your Mind
A Story of August Wilson
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Feed Your Mind is a picture book celebration of August Wilson’s journey from a child in Pittsburgh to one of America’s greatest playwrights, from Caldecott Honor–winning author Jen Bryant and illustrator Cannaday Chapman.
August Wilson (1945–2005) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright who had a particular talent for capturing the authentic, everyday voice of Black Americans. As a child, he read off soup cans and cereal boxes, and when his mother brought him to the library, his whole world opened up. After facing intense prejudice at school from both students and some teachers, August dropped out. However, he continued reading and educating himself independently. He felt that if he could read about it, then he could teach himself anything and accomplish anything.
Like many of his plays, Feed Your Mind is told in two acts, revealing how Wilson grew up to be one of the most influential American playwrights. The book includes an author’s note, a timeline of August Wilson’s life, a list of Wilson’s plays, and a bibliography.
“Bryant’s poetic descriptions effectively chronicle Wilson’s artistic journey . . . This empathetic and informative study of August Wilson’s early years explores the complexities of the black experience in America. A book that will resonate not only with bookworms and fans of the playwright but with black children wishing to see themselves reflected in the world around them.” —School Library Journal (Starred Review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Using a theatrical framework of acts and scenes, Bryant assembles resonant moments into an inspired collage of the life of playwright August Wilson (1945 2005), from childhood to maturity. Chronologically ordered single-spread scenes each focus on a specific impactful moment winning but then being denied a new washing machine due to Wilson's "family name and address," struggles with racist classmates, reading in the library after Wilson drops out of school, choosing a pen name for himself, and shifting forms from poems to plays. Wilson's passion for words and attention to the world around him emerge in Bryant's lyrical telling: "He reads with delight and with a fearsome hunger, like a guest at a royal feast." Chapman's layered multimedia illustrations in muted primary colors adroitly combine pattern, line, and whimsy to transform telling details into revealing images. An author's note and timeline conclude. Ages 6 9.
