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carolineinthelibrary's review against another edition
5.0
Really interesting and informative book narrating the life of Fredrick Douglass. If a child needed to do a project or a biography, this would be a great book for that. It's mature enough to inform and for an older child to enjoy, but not so wordy that it would be lost on children, like Douglass' autobiography might.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
Another good children's picture book biography. This is a fairly straightforward choice for such a biography - certainly I've read other simple biographies of Douglass. But this one captures him well and threads the difficult line of a biographical picture book of enough depth without too many words. And the art adds a lot. A bit weaker historical note than I expected.
mattyb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
yapha's review against another edition
5.0
Powerful words accompanying the gorgeous illustration make this an amazing introduction to an important American. Highly recommended for grades 4 & up.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
5.0
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Short text, concise, sprinkled with appropriate quotations (all cited properly) from Frederick Douglass. Beautiful realistic large two-page spread paintings. Has timeline, sources, bibliography.
michelle_neuwirth_gray9311's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful illustrations and very well done text.
jstruzzi's review against another edition
4.0
Great as a first Douglas Bio for kids. Each page includes a related quote from Douglas, which made this a unique biography that richly emphasized his determination and amazing experience.
calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
Powerful! Powerful life, powerful story. This reminds you how much a person can actually overcome in a life given persistence and circumstance.
Doreen has another great biography. I learned much from this book. I did know he and Harriet Tubman were friends. They supported each other quite a bit.
This whole idea of what life was like is difficult for the kids to comprehend. They did like the story.
Doreen has another great biography. I learned much from this book. I did know he and Harriet Tubman were friends. They supported each other quite a bit.
This whole idea of what life was like is difficult for the kids to comprehend. They did like the story.
erine's review against another edition
5.0
Part of it is just that Frederick Douglass' life is just so... much. It was tragic, it was hopeful, he was persistent as well as intelligent. And in some ways he was even lucky. It's hard not to be moved by a life like that. But this story is told so well, and the illustrations have such depth, and the entire product is just paced and organized so fine. You can tell it was a labor of love, and reading the author's and illustrator's notes at the end it became even more apparent. Rappaport spent time teaching in Freedom Schools in 1965 where she first learned about Frederick Douglass, and Ladd dove into research on his own, even growing out his hair to better understand and portray Douglass through the illustrations.
A testament to the power of the written and spoken word, and an ode to a person who devoted his life to freedom and justice.
A testament to the power of the written and spoken word, and an ode to a person who devoted his life to freedom and justice.