Freedom Bird

Written as a picture book in the style of African American folk tales, this story follows Millicent and John, a brother and sister held in bondage on Simon Plenty's plantation. Their lives have been marked by loss and cruelty, and they have only their parents' old stories to hold onto. Those tales told of ancestors who soared to freedom as lightly as birds. The narrator refuses to call the conflict a civil war, calling it instead a big, bad one. Their parents are gone now, but their words remain: "Maybe such a time will come for you."

One day a strange bird arrives, and its presence changes the two children. It gives them the nerve to put a plan into action and attempt to reach freedom. Kadir Nelson's vivid paintings sit alongside Jerdine Nolen's lively, rhythmic prose.