Circle Unbroken
Author: Margot Theis Raven
Illustrator: E.B. Lewis
Straus and Giroux, 2004
48 Pages
Multicultural
I thought this book looked very interesting when I saw the woven basket on the front. I started looking through the words and realized it was a story about family, where they come from, and their traditions.
A young girl is learning how to weave sweet grass baskets from her grandmother. All the while, her grandmother takes her on a journey back to South Africa where her great-grandfather made the baskets so tight that they would hold rain. He was sold into slavery and brought to America, where he later was able to start his family. This book depicts a tradition handed down for many generations.
The illustrations for this book are full-page watercolor. The drawings are very detailed, showing the aging face of the gradmother and the vivid lines of the village from where her grandfather came.
I would suggest this book for children from kindergarten up. They should be able to understand and relate to family traditions and the fact that most of our heritage comes from other countries.
This book might be good for History unit on slavery and how people were ripped from their homelands to work for little or nothing. It would be great to point out how the slaves had jobs and lives before being brought to America. There is a portion in the back that shows more information about sweet grass baskets like those made in Africa.
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