(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Off the coast of Georgia, slaves leave a ship, then turn and walk into the water, led by an Ibo conjure woman, chanting "the water can take us home." Siegelson adapts this tale, changing the death, or "slave's freedom," into an actual ability to walk beneath water. Rhythmic dialect in the text is deftly balanced by the narrative's slow, dignified cadences. The art reflects the allegorical nature of the tale, revealing both the real and the imagined, sorrow and joy.

Reviewer: Nancy Vasilakis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 1999