Staff Review: "Heart and Soul"

I just finished reading “Heart and Soul: The Story of American and African Americans” by Kadir Nelson with tears in my eyes. Nelson speaks through the voice of an African American grandmother. Starting with the Africans that came with the Spanish in 1565, this overview of history covers the Revolutionary War, Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Great Migration, World War I, the Jazz Age, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and the election of America’s first African American President Barack Obama. While the writing tells the history the illustrations tell the true “Heart and Soul” story.

Nelson won the Coretta Scott King Award and Robert F. Sibert Award for “We are the Ship: the story of Negro League Baseball”. His illustration of that title were magnificent, however, they pale in comparison to the emotional response that “Heart and Soul” elicits. His use of light and shadows allows us to follow the story without words. In the painting of President Washington and the slave at Mount Vernon we see President Washington sitting proudly on a horse with light illuminating his face. While at his side in the shadows is the slave with his eyes cast down.

One of the most absorbing paintings in the book is of the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first American military units made up of African American soldiers, at Fort Wagner, South Carolina. The painting shows light from the cannon fire bouncing off the muskets and bayonets, dirt on the soldier’s uniforms, and the destruction of war. The book is written for children in upper elementary school. However, it is a powerful story that should be welcomed by all ages.