What's the Big Deal About Freedom

April 15, 2017
Shamir offers an investigation of the foundations of freedoms in the United States via its founding documents, as well as movements and individuals who had great impacts on shaping and reshaping those institutions. The opening pages of this picture book get off to a wobbly start with comments such as "You know that feeling you get...when you see a wide open field that you can run through without worrying about traffic or cars? That's freedom." But as the book progresses, Shamir slowly steadies the craft toward that wide-open field of freedom. She notes the many obvious-to-us-now exclusivities that the founding political documents embodied--that the entitled, white, male authors did not extend freedom to enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans, and women--and encourages readers to learn to exercise vigilance and foresight. The gradual inclusion of these left-behind people paints a modestly rosy picture of their circumstances today, and the text seems to give up on explaining how Native Americans continue to be left behind. Still, a vital part of what makes freedom daunting is its constant motion, and that is ably expressed. Numerous boxed tidbits give substance to the bigger political picture. Who were the abolitionists and the suffragists, what were the Montgomery bus boycott and the "Uprising of 20,000"? Faulkner's artwork conveys settings and emotions quite well, and his drawing of Ruby Bridges is about as darling as it gets. A helpful timeline and bibliography appear as endnotes. A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few misfires. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 2-5-Americans describe their country as the "land of the free" every time they sing their national anthem, but how often do they take a step back and really think about what that phrase means? Starting with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, this book considers how freedom has been expanded and restricted by governmental, racial, religious, and economic factors. Demonstrating that freedom in practice can be the framework that provides citizens with rights and protections, the author explains the significance of the Bill of Rights, then goes into more detail about slavery, labor laws, immigration policies, and voting expansion. Using a question-and-answer format, the conversational text incorporates sentence fragments and mimics an animated adult/child discussion. Carefully designed and well-executed watercolor and pencil illustrations spill over the pages, adding information, detail, and humor to the text. The images depict people of varying ethnicities, religious dress, and ages; a person using a wheelchair; same-sex couples; etc. Presenting so many topics necessarily leads to some simplification, but Shamir offers enough content to give readers a general idea and inspire them to investigate further. VERDICT An effective place for children to begin learning about the concept of freedom. A general nonfiction purchase.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

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