I Saw Your Face

Kwame Dawes is an American writer of African descent (Ghana). He weaves together his international experience, West African story-telling technique, and English meter to recount the African diaspora. Tom Feeling's haunting sketches of Black children around the globe illustrate the striking relationship amongst a fragmented community. I so appreciate quality representations of Black people in children's literature. Feelings' illustrations capture the intricacies of my face, and the faces of the children I teach. It is so important that children recognize themselves positively in literature.  I stress positively because reading, especially at a young age, shapes and influences a child's identity. The words and strokes of I Saw Your Face pierced my own heart. The African Diaspora is my story; those are my relatives rooted in Accra and Atlanta. Our relationship is distant, yet irrevocably linked.

Ages: 8-12