Everybody Can Help Somebody

August 19, 2013
This children’s version of the authors’ bestselling Same Kind of Different As Me is the biography of Moore, a sharecropper’s son, and his journey from homelessness to grace. Moore grew up in a shack without electricity or running water on property owned by “The Man.” There were bright spots in his childhood, such as the bicycle The Man gave him in exchange for 100 pounds of picked cotton, and a friendship with The Man’s son. Moore’s story also includes the physical and emotional hardships he suffered: as a child, he “wanted to learn and to see new places and to have enough money to buy things of his own.” Later, Moore becomes homeless and finds that “being lonely, poor, and hungry made him mean.” But the story also describes the miraculous way in which his plight came to the attention of Hall and his wife, Miss Debbie. Moore’s folk-art scenes of country and city life complement the simplicity of the message: “Nobody can help everybody but everybody can help somebody.” The story is a realistic, heartfelt, feel-good tale of redemption. Ages 4–8.

August 15, 2013
Patronizing storytelling glosses over a tale of Christian kindness. Hall retells his biography of inspirational speaker Moore (Same Kind of Different as Me, 2008) as a lesson in charity. Moore grows up on The Man's plantation during the Great Depression, illustrated with deep colors and eye-catching images, such as a black boy with a sack of cotton as big as he is. After hopping a freight train, Moore is homeless until Hall's wife dreams about him and finds him at a mission. Moore's reaction is plainly touching: "Denver had never heard anyone say, 'God loves you.' He had never even heard someone say, 'I love you.' " However, Hall's prose is often glib; he tells without showing, and his description of plantation life borders on benevolent. When The Man gives Moore a bike in exchange for picking 100 pounds of cotton, the blistering labor is described as "extra chores"; asked if he is homeless, Moore reflects that The Man had "given him" a shack. While young children may understand chores and rewards, equating sharecropping with receiving an allowance is hugely problematic without discussion. Moore's simple, evocative pictures tell his story best, mitigating Hall's superficial text. For a more reflective illustration of kindness begetting kindness, consider Jacqueline Woodson's Each Kindness, illustrated by E.B. Lewis (2012). (Picture book. 4-7)

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