My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden's Childhood Journey

As a young boy growing up in North Carolina, Romare Bearden listened to his great-grandmother's Cherokee stories and heard the whistle of the train that took his people to the North--people who wanted to be free. When Romare boarded that same train, he watched out the window as the world whizzed by. Later he captured those scenes in a famous painting, Watching the Good Trains Go By. Using that painting as inspiration and creating a text influenced by the jazz that Bearden loved, Jeanne Walker Harvey describes the patchwork of daily southern life that Romare saw out the train's window and the story of his arrival in shimmering New York City. Artists and critics today praise Bearden's collages for their visual metaphors honoring his past, African American culture, and the human experience. Elizabeth Zunon's illustrations of painted scenes blended with collage are a stirring tribute to a remarkable artist.

My Hands Sing the Blues is the recipient of the 2012 IRA Childrens and Young Adults Book Award-Primary Non-Fiction, as well as the gold winner of a Moonbeam Children's Book Award in the category of Picture Book-All Ages.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Two Lions
Published: 09/01/2011
ISBN: 9780761458104
Pages: 40
Weight: 1.23lbs
Size: 10.26h x 9.98w x 0.42d
Award: Moonbeam Children's Book Award - Gold Medal Winner

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 07/25/2011
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2011
School Library Journal 10/01/2011 pg. 126
Booklist 11/01/2011 pg. 69
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2012 pg. 166 - Below Average, With Minor Flaw
School Library Journal 08/01/2012

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 146678 / My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden's Childhood Journey
Reading Level: 3.6 / Interest Level: Lower Grade / Point Value: 0.5