The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Lyon, George Ella

Which Side Are You On?: The Story of a Song

40 pp. | Cinco | October, 2011 | Paper ISBN 978-1-933693-96-5 $17.95

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Christopher Cardinale. The narrator of this fictionalized tale lives in Kentucky “in a coal company house on coal company land…[Pa] says the company owns us sure as sunrise.” When company thugs harass the family, Ma, unfazed, scribbles words for the song that would become the union anthem. Lyon’s text captures the family’s sympathetic plight while Cardinale’s woodcuts display drama and energy. Author’s note. Bib.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2012