Kathryn Lasky takes the liberty of filling in the many blanks time has left to bring us a very real portrait of the ancient Greek mathematician, geographer, writer and complier, Eratosthenes. He serves for a model of life-long learning and questioning, problem solving in a times made difficult by lack of instrumentation, and someone fascinated with the workings of the world. Lasky also gives brings to life a period of time unknown to many children. Coming Home is the first picture book Floyd Cooper has both illustrated and written and the combined power of his two art forms is stunning. Hughes and Cooper share a poetic soul, for Cooper's voice is filled with a lyricism uncommon in most biographies.
Cooper knows how to balance emotion and technique, darks and lights in illustrations.
And it was about his black family that he wrote in words that reached his own people, and all kinds of people of different races and different countries, all over the world. Wisely the author focuses on Hurston's early life and the division of her home. The father who saw to limit her because of her sex and the mother who helped her dream, question, and see the vitality of the world. The book ends with Hurston's response to her mother's death, a lyrical writing that represents the gift her mother gave her. Illustrations highlight the beauty of relationship of mother and child and their connection to the natural world and their people.