You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen
Carole Boston Weatherford
(Author)
Jeffery Boston Weatherford
(Illustrator)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
In this "masterful, inspiring evocation of an era" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford "wields the power of poetry to tell [the] gripping historical story" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) of the Tuskegee Airmen. I WANT YOU! says the poster of Uncle Sam. But if you're a young black man in 1940, he doesn't want you in the cockpit of a war plane. Yet you are determined not to let that stop your dream of flying. So when you hear of a civilian pilot training program at Tuskegee Institute, you leap at the chance. Soon you are learning engineering and mechanics, how to communicate in code, how to read a map. At last the day you've longed for is here: you are flying! From training days in Alabama to combat on the front lines in Europe, this is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the groundbreaking African-American pilots of World War II. In vibrant second-person poems, Carole Boston Weatherford teams up for the first time with her son, artist Jeffery Weatherford, in a powerful and inspiring book that allows readers to fly, too.
Product Details
Price
$17.99
$16.73
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publish Date
May 03, 2016
Pages
96
Dimensions
5.7 X 7.8 X 0.5 inches | 0.4 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781481449380
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Carole Boston Weatherford has written many award-winning books for children, including Kin, illustrated by her son Jeffery and a Coretta Scott King Author Honor recipient; Box, which won a Newbery Honor; Unspeakable, which won the Coretta Scott King Award, a Caldecott Honor, and was a finalist for the National Book Award; Respect: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award; ALA Notable Children's Book You Can Fly; and Caldecott Honor winners Freedom in Congo Square; Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement; and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. Carole lives in North Carolina. Visit her at CBWeatherford.com. Jeffery Boston Weatherford is an award-winning children's book illustrator and a performance poet. He has lectured, performed, and led art and writing workshops in the US, the Middle East, and West Africa. Jeffery was a Romare Bearden Scholar at Howard University, where he earned an MFA in painting and studied under members of the Black Arts Movement collective AfriCobra. A North Carolina native and resident, Jeffery has exhibited his art in North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. Visit him at CBWeatherford.com.
Reviews
"This book sheds light on the Tuskegee Airmen through stories filled with authentic voices and hard truths. For those who already know of the Airmen's accomplishments, the book offers a more personal connection to the men and their ideas and feelings through poems . . . which demonstrate that despite their proven skill and heroism, the aviators were still denied acceptance and respect."-- "School Library Journal"
* "Weatherford's skill with language provides clear voices for the trainees, and cultural specifics provide additional texture and deepen understanding of the young men. A masterful, inspiring evocation of an era." -- "Kirkus Reviews, starred review"
"This volume offers a vivid, personal point of view. A welcome addition to traditional books on the Tuskegee Airmen."--Booklist "April 1, 2015"
* "Weatherford . . . wields the power of poetry to tell a gripping historical story, reinforced by dramatically shaded scratchboard illustrations by her son, making a notable debut."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The narrative voice draws readers into the action, addressing them directly and inviting them to imagine themselves into this ground-breaking role . . . this title is particularly well adapted to classroom use, where language arts and history students can share common air space."-- "BCCB"
"Weatherford's informative, evocative poems follow the Airmen from the early vision . . . to the flyers' experiences at home and abroad, with poems about Joe Louis and Lena Horne reminding us that the Airmen were also fighting another war in this country--against prejudice."-- "Horn Book"
* "Weatherford's skill with language provides clear voices for the trainees, and cultural specifics provide additional texture and deepen understanding of the young men. A masterful, inspiring evocation of an era." -- "Kirkus Reviews, starred review"
"This volume offers a vivid, personal point of view. A welcome addition to traditional books on the Tuskegee Airmen."--Booklist "April 1, 2015"
* "Weatherford . . . wields the power of poetry to tell a gripping historical story, reinforced by dramatically shaded scratchboard illustrations by her son, making a notable debut."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The narrative voice draws readers into the action, addressing them directly and inviting them to imagine themselves into this ground-breaking role . . . this title is particularly well adapted to classroom use, where language arts and history students can share common air space."-- "BCCB"
"Weatherford's informative, evocative poems follow the Airmen from the early vision . . . to the flyers' experiences at home and abroad, with poems about Joe Louis and Lena Horne reminding us that the Airmen were also fighting another war in this country--against prejudice."-- "Horn Book"
