So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth's Long Walk Toward Freedom

Schmidt tells the powerful story of Sojourner Truth (born Isabella), highlighting the context of her courageous actions: "When Isabella was about nine, she was sold for a hundred dollars--along with a flock of sheep." After a lifetime of slavery, Isabella escaped, yet her five-year-old son was sent to the South, leading her to travel across New York to speak to the Grand Jury. Minter paints luminously, alternating between full-bleed spreads and dreamlike vertical images. At the denouement, Schmidt describes how Isabella took on the name of Sojourner Truth as she embarked on her walking journey to denounce slavery: "In Freedom Time, when Hope kindled a fire in the dark and Happiness winked over the horizon." A soaring poetic tribute to a human rights champion. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Gr 1-4—Focusing on the impact of slavery on Sojourner Truth's life and her ongoing fight to end the institution, Schmidt and Minter choose a lyrical and evocative approach to her story. Readers learn about the hardships and cruelty she endured under various masters before her walk to freedom and her legal battle to regain custody of her son. Schmidt incorporates the woman's own words as he recounts her anti-slavery speeches to crowds and her meeting with President Lincoln as she walked thousands of miles to advocate for freedom. Minter's illustrations, arresting at first glance, grow deeper and more compelling with repeated viewing. The vertical panels incorporate images such as ships crossing the ocean and slave collars. Equally striking are recurrent motifs of leaves, roots, and trees in depictions of events from Sojourner's life. Shadowy figures of people from the past, present, and future tie her struggle from the particular to the universal. Because the book omits important events such as her 1851 women's rights speech and minimizes the religious motivation for her activism and preaching, readers should also have access to other introductory biographies such as Andrea Davis Pinkney's Sojourner Truth's Step-Stomp Stride, Ann Turner's My Name Is Truth, and Anne Rockwell's Only Passing Through. VERDICT Outstanding illustrations make this a noteworthy addition to most libraries, but collections need to keep other books about Sojourner Truth to present multiple facets of her significant achievements.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato

2018 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Informational Books for Young Readers
2019 NCSS and CBC's Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, Kindergarten to Second Grade readers
2019 ALSC's Notable Children's Books for Middle Readers

"Powerful, moving, necessary." - Kirkus, Starred Review
"A soaring poetic tribute to a human rights champion." - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"A lyrical and evocative approach to [Sojourner Truth's] story." - School Library Journal
"Schmidt's fluid prose is nicely suited to reading aloud to primary-grade audiences, but Minter's arresting artwork extends the age range... Even picture-book collections in which [Sojourner Truth] is well represented will surely make space for this engrossing work." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"A stirring introduction to an extraordinary life - Daniel Minter's paintings, in saturated tones of midnight blues and leaf browns and golds, bring it powerfully to life." - The New York Times Book Review