Dave the Potter, Artist, Poet, Slave

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier

2011 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

2011 Caldecott Honor Book

This is a picture book. I found it in the picture book part of our library, although it is a biography. It tells the story of Dave the Potter. A slave who made pots, they estimate he might have made 40,000 pots in his lifetime. Unique to his artistry, and especially surprising under his circumstance, he wrote little poems on many of the pots, and signed his name. Tiny 2-4 line poems, and it is from these poems that much of his life story is pieced together. He was also one of only 2 potters known to that time who could make really LARGE pots --- up to 40 gallons.

This book describes his life and the process of making pots---- from dirt, to wheel, to glaze, with simple lovely words and beautiful illustrations. A great book to share with young children and older ones.

Love, Louise

PS I shared this book with my daughter age 6 last night. We had an excellent discussion about slavery. My son (now 10) LOVED biographies from pre-school on and we discussed slavery, the civil rights movement, etc. etc. from age 3 forward. My daughter hasn't been so inclined towards non-fiction, and we haven't talked about history as much. I've started dedicating a half an hour to read with her each evening, just the two of us. It's a very sweet time, not related to bedtime, just a special time for us! And I realized last night that I'd like to sneak more historical/biographical picture books into the mix. The jumping off points for discussion from these books are SO invaluable.

My children are African American. I am of mixed heritage--- Japanese on my mothers side, Russian Jewish on my fathers side. My husband is European American. My son's sense of self in terms of his racial identity and African American heritage, and his perceptiveness about race dynamics in our daily experience, I think is very strong, and I believe the books that we read and talked about were a big contributor to this. Other stuff also contributed! Books alone wouldn't take care of this. . . . but they were a very positive factor!

Anyhow, I want to up this part of my daughters education and sense of self! So . . . bring on the books!