Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton

Gr 2-5--This picture book biography of poet George Moses Horton (1798-1884), a slave and the first African American poet to be published in the South, recounts his fascinating long life and masterly way with words. Tate's distinctive illustrations feature gently curving horizons, bucolic washes of color, and figures with oversize heads and stylized, expressive faces. The illustrations and the accessible, lyrical text spare readers from the full force of slavery's brutality: enslaved people are shown as ragged but resilient, Horton's forced labor in the fields is genteelly called "disagreeable," and the scene of a slave revolt is bloodless. Tate integrates historical context into the narrative, for instance, describing how prominent abolitionists tried to help Horton buy his freedom or how his business writing love poems for hire folded because his customers enlisted in the Confederate army. Nevertheless, the focus remains on Horton and his emotional journey: triumph at his first publication; heartbreak when he was sold from his family; joy and contentment in his old age when he was, at last, free. Several of Horton's verses appear throughout the book, and back matter includes an extensive author's note and source list. VERDICT A lovely introduction to an inspirational American poet.--Sarah Stone, San Francisco Public Library

Born a slave, George Moses Horton taught himself to read, memorizing the poems he composed until he later learned to write. Hand-lettered excerpts of Horton's writing amplify his successes and setbacks as he gains a reputation as a poet among students at the University of North Carolina, to whom he sold produce. Horton's poems drew additional attention and were published ("Needless to say, it was a dangerous time for Horton, whose poems often protested slavery," Tate writes in an afterword), but freedom remained elusive until the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, when Horton was 66 years old. Tate's mixed-media illustrations glow with bright greens and yellows, radiating a warmth, hope, and promise that echo this stirring biography's closing message: "Words loosened the chains of bondage long before his last day as a slave." Ages 6-10. Agent: Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Sept.)