Papa's Mark
Grade 2-5--This story revolves around the descendants of freed slaves struggling to assert their right to vote after the Civil War. Despite being legally enfranchised by the Fifteenth Amendment, many roadblocks still stand in the way of black men like Samuel T. Blow: functional illiteracy, the lingering bigotry of the white men in power, and the spiritual paralysis born of many years spent with no rights at all. But Samuel's young son, Simms, helps his father learn to read and write his own name, which gives the man the courage to lead their community to the polling place on Election Day. Battle-Lavert employs regional colloquialisms and a simple narrative structure to tell her story, and Bootman's dense oil paintings evoke the mood and setting of the period. An epilogue covers the politics and other complications that kept African Americans from voting as freely as whites before 1966. Minor problems arise in the text, however, as when it suggests that Samuel--who has only recently learned to read and write his own name--could manage a written ballot without help. Since the plot focuses on his illiteracy, it seems a bit facile for the text to imply that learning to sign his name was the only educational hurdle for him to clear. Nevertheless, this is a powerful story with a lot to offer to young readers.--Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SCCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.