You Are My Pride: A Love Letter from Your Motherland (Hardcover)

Description

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In this powerfully written and beautifully illustrated picture book by award-winning author and illustrator team Carole Boston Weatherford and E. B. Lewis, Mother Africa addresses her offspring of all colors in all corners of the earth, reminding us of our timeless bond.

Written in the voice of Mother Africa, who speaks to her children—human beings—this stunning picture book thrums with the love between mother and child as it celebrates humanity’s common roots.

Before words or tools or fire, Mother Africa’s caves sheltered us and her forests fed us. She could not protect us from all dangers, but, like mothers everywhere, she gave her children all she could and sent us into the world with confidence and love. Told in the ringing, singing language of a creation story, this book is a love letter from mother to child that honors our shared history. 

Includes back matter with nonfiction information about human evolution and about the migration of Homo sapiens from Africa around the globe.

About the Author

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New York Times best-selling author Carole Boston Weatherford’s 60-plus books include the Caldecott Honor book Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, for which she was awarded the Coretta Scott King Author Award and a Sibert Honor; the Newbery Honor winner Box; and the Caldecott Honor winners Freedom in Congo Square, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Moses. She won a Coretta Scott King Author Honor for Becoming Billie Holiday. Weatherford teaches at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.

E. B. Lewis, award-winning illustrator and fine artist, has illustrated over seventy books for children, including The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson and Lizzie Demands a Seat by Beth Anderson. After his graduation from the Temple University Tyler School of Art, Lewis taught art in public schools for twelve years. Presently, he teaches at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Praise For…

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★ "A love letter to humans, all of whom originated in Africa. Told in second person by Africa herself...in beautifully evocative free verse... Lewis’ gorgeous, dreamlike watercolors sharpen as they move closer to contemporary life....A strikingly illustrated, innovative story of human evolution at the intersections of science and art." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Boston Weatherford’s affectionate letter from the cradle of humankind begins, 'I am the mother of all humanity,/ I have a long history and a longer memory./ Most of all, I remember you,/ my offspring of all colors/ in all corners of the earth.'..Lewis wields watercolor to pristine effect in depicting vast and varied landscapes. A timeline of human evolution concludes." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"There is a deep, melodic cadence to the words of You Are My Pride, a lyrical appeal to the world’s children to remember their planet and take care of it...Lewis’ watercolor illustrations are the perfect complement, capturing the watery swirl from which humans evolved into upright creatures and developed the skills to survive in nature...The genre-crossing nature makes this an ideal title for both the science and ELA classrooms—or simply as a read-aloud with the potential for rich discussion." —Booklist