ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
PICTURE BOOKS
Yarbrough, Camille

Cornrows

48 pp. | Putnam | April, 2023 | Trade ISBN 9780593625071 $17.99 | Paper ISBN 9780698114364 $8.99
1979, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Carole Byard. This is a welcome reissue of a classic of early African American picture books, first published in 1979, for which Byard won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. A lengthy text by today’s standards, narrated by Shirley Ann, or Sister, describes the origins and the meaning of the cornrows Great-Grammaw braids in Mama’s hair. Great-Grammaw explains, in dialect: “A long, long time ago, in a land called Africa,” people represented the “spirit that lives inside of you” with “symbols of courage, an honor, an wisdom, an love, an strength.” Byard’s pow-erful black-and-white illustrations capture everything from the horrors of the Middle Passage to the sophistication of ancient Yoruba culture to the warmth of Sister’s family life.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

RELATED 

PICTURE BOOKS

Born Ready
by Patterson, Jodie
PICTURE BOOKS

The House of Grass and Sky
by Ray, Mary Lyn
PICTURE BOOKS

The Dog's Gardener
by Storms, Patricia
PICTURE BOOKS

And I Paint It
by Kephart, Beth
PICTURE BOOKS

Poem in My Pocket
by Tougas, Chris
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?