(2) YA This absorbing novel follows young Caleb Willows as he moves from slavery to freedom, eventually joining Fisk University's Jubilee Singers. While it occasionally succumbs to didacticism, for the most part the matter-of-fact narration lets the reader infer Caleb's pain and confusion as he discovers that freedom is an elusive thing, and that nothing comes without a price.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1951

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by Daniel Minter. When a Southern country boy wakes up after falling from a tree, he is being carried off to heaven. Heaven, it turns out, is much like an idealized earthly African-American community: religion is important, basic needs are met, justice reigns, and children are the responsibility of the entire village. Linoleum block prints illustrate this book written in the early 1930s, now published for the first time. Bontemps, a terrific teller of tales, is a voice worth reviving for a new generation.

Reviewer: Rudine Sims Bishop | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 1999