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Description
A child of the Harlem Renaissance and an artistic collaborator of Langston Hughes, Roy DeCarava is an unsung hero of Black history. Convinced that the lives of ordinary Black people deserved to be immortalized and documented in photos, Roy celebrated Black people through his art, a process that the incomparable author Gary Golio and illustrator E. B. Lewis capture in this beautiful picture book.
“Life is how you look at it.” And for Black photographer Roy DeCarava, life in his neighborhood was beautiful. Follow Roy through 1940s Harlem, as he takes out his camera, pops in a roll of film, and opens his eyes to the beauty all around him. There’s a little boy drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. SNAP! A young man at the bus stop with a baby in his arms. SNAP! Kids playing in an open fire hydrant. SNAP! Looking at them all, Roy sees beauty everywhere in Harlem, and so do the people who look at his photos.
This deeply researched picture book also includes additional information on DeCarava, a list of places to view his photos, a bibliography, and photos.
Publication date
January 16, 2024
Genre
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781662680557
Publisher
Calkins Creek Books
BISAC categories
JNF007010 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Art JNF018010 - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places | United States - African-American JNF041000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Photography
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review
In an image-centered picture book that summons the senses, the creators navigate Harlem through the lens of photographer Roy DeCarava (1919-2009). Muted watercolor illustrations lend a snapshot quality to each structurally composed scene, beginning with a metropolitan sidewalk: "It's five o'clock. Work is over. Roy's time is his own now." Camera in hand on the subway, he photographs a dozing man; aboveground, a boy drawing with sidewalk chalk: "SNAP!" An artist displaying paintings on the street next catches DeCarava's eye, then a mother photographing her son. Brief descriptive snippets, peppered with quotations from the book's subject, accompany each image, exploring how the photographer "sees so much beauty everywhere," from a crumpled soda can to "Black and brown bodies/ shining bright" in the wash of a fire hydrant. DeCarava captures it all--and so too do Golio and Lewis--in this luminous tribute. Includes more about the subject and a bibliography. Ages 7-10. (Jan.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Gary Golio is a fine artist and a clinical social worker/psychotherapist who works with children and teens, specializing in the area of addiction. This is his first book. He lives in Ossining, New York. To learn more, please visit www.garygolio.com. Javaka Steptoe is a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award-winner who has created several books for children. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. To learn more, please visit www.javaka.com.
