Cooper, Floyd 1956-

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COOPER, Floyd 1956-

PERSONAL: Born January 8, 1956, in Tulsa, OK; married; wife's name, Velma; children: Dayton, Kai Noah. Education: University of Oklahoma, B.F.A. Hobbies and other interests: Basketball, tennis, bicycling, nature walks, movies, all types of music, books.

ADDRESSES: Home—West Orange, NJ. Agent—c/o Author Mail, HarperCollins, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Author and illustrator. Worked in advertising and for Hallmark, Kansas City, MO; freelance illustrator, 1984—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Notable Book selection, American Library Association (ALA), for Grandpa's Face, written by Eloise Greenfield; Parents' Choice Award, Parents' Choice Foundation, 1990, for Laura Charlotte, written by Kathryn Osebold Galbraith; Coretta Scott King Honor Book for Illustration, ALA, 1994, for Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea: Poems, 1995, for Meet Danitra Brown, and 1999, for I Have Heard of a Land.

WRITINGS:

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes, Philomel (New York, NY), 1994.

Mandela: From the Life of the South African Statesman, Philomel (New York, NY), 1996.

Cumbayah, Morrow (New York, NY), 1998.

ILLUSTRATOR

Margaret Davidson, The Story of Jackie Robinson, Bravest Man in Baseball, Dell (New York, NY), 1988.

Eloise Greenfield, Grandpa's Face, Philomel (New

York, NY), 1988.

Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, Chita's Christmas Tree, Bradbury Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Kathryn Osebold Galbraith, Laura Charlotte, Philomel (New York, NY), 1990.

Jacqueline Woodson, Martin Luther King, Jr. and His Birthday, Silver-Burdett (Parsippany, NJ), 1990.

Karen Lynn Williams, When Africa Was Home, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Deborah Eaton, Petey, Silver Burdett (Parsippany, NJ), 1992.

Denise Burden-Patmon, Imani's Gift at Kwanzaa, Modern Curriculum Press (Cleveland, OH), 1992.

Jean Merrill, The Girl Who Loved Caterpillars: A Twelfth-Century Tale from Japan, Philomel (New York, NY), 1992.

Virginia M. Fleming, Be Good to Eddie Lee, Philomel (New York, NY), 1993.

Joyce Carol Thomas, Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea: Poems, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.

Wade Hudson, selector, Pass It On: African-American Poetry for Children, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Sandra Belton, From Miss Ida's Porch, Four Winds Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Gerald Hausman, reteller, Coyote Walks on Two Legs: A Book of Navajo Myths and Legends, Philomel (New York, NY), 1993.

Nikki Grimes, Meet Danitra Brown, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1994.

Kathryn D. Jones, Happy Birthday, Dr. King, Modern Curriculum Press (Cleveland, OH), 1994.

Candy Dawson Boyd, Daddy, Daddy, Be There, Philomel (New York, NY), 1995.

Joyce Carol Thomas, Gingerbread Days: Poems, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1995.

Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, Papa Tells Chita a Story, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

Wade and Cheryl Hudson, selectors, How Sweet the Sound: African-American Songs for Children, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1995.

Carol J. Farley, King Sejong's Secret, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1995.

Virginia Hamilton, Jaguarundi, Blue Sky Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Jane Kurtz, Pulling the Lion's Tale, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

Alan Schroeder, Satchmo's Blues, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1996.

Nancy Lamb, One April Morning: Children Remember the Oklahoma City Bombing, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1996.

Bill Martin and Michael Sampson, Si Won's Victory, Celebration Press (Parsippany, NJ), 1996.

Patricia C. McKissack, Ma Dear's Aprons, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1997.

Jane Yolen, Miz Berlin Walks, Philomel (New York, NY), 1997.

Virginia L. Kroll, Faraway Drums, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1998.

Joyce Carol Thomas, I Have Heard of a Land, Harper-Collins (New York, NY), 1998.

Ziporah Hildebrandt, reteller, Sea Girl and the Dragon King: A Chinese Folktale, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1998.

James Haskins and Kathleen Benson, African Beginnings, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1998.

Amy Littlesugar, Shake Rag: From the Life of Elvis Presley, Philomel (New York, NY), 1998.

Amy Littlesugar, Tree of Hope, Philomel (New York, NY), 1999.

Robert H. Miller, Reflections of a Black Cowboy, 2nd edition, Volume 1: Cowboys, 1999, Volume 2: The Buffalo Soldiers, 1999, Volume 3: Pioneers, 1999, Volume 4: Mountain Men, Silver Burdett (Parsippany, NJ), 1999.

Michael Sampson, Caddie, the Golf Dog, Tommy Nelson (Nashville, TN), 1999.

Fatima Shaik, On Mardi Gras Day, Dial (New York, NY), 1999.

Monalisa DeGross, Granddaddy's Street Songs, Jump at the Sun/Hyperion (New York, NY), 1999.

James Haskins and Kathleen Benson, Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1999.

Margaret Wise Brown, A Child Is Born, Jump at the Sun/Hyperion (New York, NY), 2000.

Jacqueline Woodson, Sweet, Sweet Memory, Jump at the Sun/Hyperion (New York, NY), 2000.

Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson, City Scenes, Learning Matters Africa (Durban, South Africa), 2000.

Amy Littlesugar, Freedom School, Yes!, Philomel (New York, NY), 2001.

Joyce Carol Thomas, The Blacker the Berry: Poems, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Nikki Grimes, Danitra Brown Leaves Town, Harper-Collins (New York, NY), 2002.

Ruth Vander Zee, Mississippi Morning, Eerdmans Books (Grand Rapids, MI), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Winner of three Coretta Scott King Honor Awards for illustration, author and illustrator Floyd Cooper has brought to life many stories, poems, songs, and works of nonfiction detailing centuries of African-American experience. "Luminous" is perhaps the single most often used word by critics to describe the work of Cooper, who began his career as a children's book illustrator with his work on the 1988 picture book Grandpa's Face. Cooper has since been hailed by critics for what a Publishers Weekly reviewer called his "painterly, sun-drenched portraits" and Lois F. Anderson lauded as "reveal[ing] keen observations of people and neighborhood" in a Horn Book review. He has illustrated nearly fifty picture books by writers from Nikki Grimes to Amy Littlesugar to Jane Yolen to Margaret Wise Brown; additionally, Cooper has also penned several of his own picture books with strong African-American themes.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1956, Cooper first tried his hand at illustration as a three-year-old. As he noted on the Teachers at Random Web site, "My earliest recollection of actually doing drawing is on the side of my father's house." While Cooper's father busied himself building, his young son found a stray piece of drywall and began drawing the picture of a "duck of some sort," as Cooper recalled. Though he had to ultimately erase this piece of artwork, he has been drawing ever since. "The biggest influence on me as a child was my mother," Cooper further noted. "She played a major role in my direction. Everything. I lived in the projects as a child. We were from very modest means, but she was always able to instill in me a sense of value that I carry with me today." Cooper's mother also had a wealth of stories which she shared with her imaginative young son.

Cooper attended the University of Oklahoma, where he studied fine art. After graduating, he spent several years in the advertising field and working for Hallmark greeting cards. Moving to New York, he "stumbled into an agent's office" one afternoon after searching for work for several months, and was offered a chance at illustrating his first picture book, Grandpa's Face, written by Eloise Greenfield.

The book is a sensitive portrait of a young girl named Tamika who sees her grandfather's expression become scary; unaware that he is practicing for the part of an angry character in a play, she purposely misbehaves to see if he could get angry enough at her to wear such a mean expression. Illustrated in muted pastel tones of gold and rich warm brown, Cooper's work was praised by a Publishers Weekly critic for "reinforc[ing] in the pictures the feelings of warmth and affection that exists between generations." Such feelings were also kindled by his artwork for Kathryn Galbraith's Laura Charlotte, as a young girl's fear of the dark at bedtime is diminished with the story of how her favorite stuffed animal—an elephant who once belonged to her mother—came to be. Cooper's grainy, "somber-toned illustrations envelop the reader in their warmth as they capture the mood of summer nights and cozy bedrooms," noted a Publishers Weekly commentator.

Sandra Belton's From Miss Ida's Porch evokes an earlier age as elderly residents of a city's African-American neighborhood gather in the early evening hours and recall musical idols Duke Ellington and Marian Anderson. As a counterpoint to Belton's lyrical prose, Cooper's oil-wash illustrations "add to the warmth and sense of community," according to School Library Journal reviewer Elizabeth Hanson. A Publishers Weekly commentator noted that Cooper's pictures "affectingly capture the fading light on the young and old faces and complement the nostalgic quality of the story." Cooper opens a similar window to the past in Patricia C. McKissack's Ma Dear's Aprons, as young David tells the story of how he can always tell what day of the week it is by the apron his widowed mother, a domestic servant, wears to work. "The love between the mother and son is palpable," noted Maeve Visser Knoth in a Horn Book review, "and the composition and colors of the illustration emphasize the strength of the relationship." Also praising Cooper's oil-wash artwork, Hazel Rochman commented in Booklist that his illustrations "show the exhausting work, as well as the proud and loving bonds of family."

In addition to stories—both of the African-American experience and of other cultures, such as twelfth-century Japan in his highly praised work for Jean Merrill's The Girl Who Loved Caterpillars: A Twelfth-Century Tale from Japan—Cooper has illustrated several collections of verse for younger children, including four volumes by poet Joyce Carol Thomas. Thomas's first collection, Brown Honey in Broom-wheat Tea: Poems, features watercolor illustrations that a Publishers Weekly reviewer characterized as "essentially realistic but enveloped in a haze of light," and that Booklist contributor Janice Del Negro noted "invite the viewer to participate in the family gatherings and ritual tea brewing that take place." In Thomas's Gingerbread Days: Poems, the twelve poems featured—one for each month of the calendar year—are "made even stronger by Floyd Cooper's glowing golden illustrations," in the opinion of Horn Book critic Martha V. Parravano. And praising the illustrator's work for Wade Hudson's compilation Pass It On: African-American Poetry for Children, Jane Marino remarked upon Cooper's characteristic "glowing colors and skillfully drawn faces" in her School Library Journal review.

In addition to picture books and poetry for young readers, nonfiction works have also benefited from Cooper's artistic talents. In response to the tragedy that occurred in Oklahoma City in 1995, during which nineteen young people were among the many victims that day, Nancy Lamb and Cooper produced One April Morning: Children Remember the Oklahoma City Bombing. According to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, Cooper's "softly focused renderings of children . . . effectively serve as all-purpose, emotion-laden backdrops to the disquieting but ultimately life-affirming text." Booklist critic Kay Weisman asserted that Cooper's "muted pastel illustrations convey the intense emotion of the survivors from a discrete distance."

In 1994, Cooper published his first work as both author and illustrator with Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes. Focusing on the poet's lonely childhood and his search for a stable home despite his parents' extended absences, Cooper tells of the writer's early years "in a warm and intimate tone that conveys both the deprivations and sources of strength" in Hughes's youth, according to Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books critic Roger Sutton. And Cooper's "writing proves equal to his artwork in highlighting elements that convey the emotion and important events" from Hughes's boyhood, Louise L. Sherman maintained in School Library Journal.

Continuing to pursue an interest in biography, Cooper has also written of another black leader in 1996's Mandela: From the Life of the South African Statesman. Retaining a focus on his subject's youth, Cooper illuminates the South African leader's philosophical origins as a child growing up in a Transkai village, and outlines the basis of the character that enabled Mandela to withstand personal difficulties—including an almost thirty-year prison term—during decades of fighting to end apartheid in his homeland. Praising Cooper's artwork, a Publishers Weekly critic deemed the volume "a forceful, credible picture of a strong and deeply devoted statesman."

In 1996's Satchmo's Blues, the early life of trumpeter Louis Armstrong is fictionalized through Alan Schroeder's text and what Booklist contributor Bill Ott called "some of [Cooper's] best work." Ott continued: "His soft-focus, two-page spreads . . . use hazy browns and golds to capture the shimmering heat and pulsing rhythm of New Orleans' streets."

Cumbayah is a further solo effort, a book that blends the well-known verses of the spiritual with "glowing illustrations," according to Jane Marino in School Library Journal, "to tell a global tale far beyond the words." Each stanza of the song is illustrated with a different group of children and adults from around the world taking part in the singing. Cooper also adds original verses to the song to create a book that "will be welcomed by religious instructors, music teachers and families," thought a contributor for Publishers Weekly. And Booklist's Susan Dove Lempke had similar praise, calling Cumbayah a "warm, inviting book."

Cooper has explored the African-American experience—both on the individual level and on the larger historical scene—in numerous books in collaboration with other writers. Working with the poet Nikki Grimes, he has provided illustrations for both Meet Danitra Brown and the 2002 Danitra Brown Leaves Town. Both books relate the tale of a simple friendship through letters between the friends Danitra and Zuri Jackson. Reviewing the first title, a contributor for Publishers Weekly commented on "Cooper's misty oil paints [that] depict two proud, happy kids in an often grim urban landscape." Booklist's Hazel Rochman also lauded Cooper's artwork for Meet Danitra Brown, remarking favorably upon the "rich shades of brown and purple," while Betsy Hearne, writing in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, found the pictures "as upbeat as the poetry." In Danitra Brown Leaves Town, the two friends must learn to do without each other one summer while Danitra visits relatives. School Library Journal's Catherine Threadgill felt that "Cooper's photo-realist artwork in soft hues . . . is a lovely complement to the girls' many moods." Similar praise came from a critic for Kirkus Reviews, who noted that "Cooper's paintings simply burst with energy and expressiveness."

Cooper has also teamed up with James Haskins and Kathleen Benson on titles exploring African as well as African-American history. Their 1998 African Beginnings looks at eleven different African cultures, beginning with the Nubian in 3800 B.C., and also including the Egyptian civilization. Various aspects are covered, such as music, dance, Islam, contact with Europe, and eventual slavery. Booklist's Susan Dove Lempke felt that the artwork "reflect[s] Cooper's exceptional ability to capture people's faces [and] portray the varied cultures with dignity and spirit." Eunice Weech, writing in School Library Journal, found the same book "a handsomely illustrated overview of Africa's ancient empires." Weech also lauded Cooper's "beautiful double-page spreads" in this "stunning introduction to African history." The same authors worked with Cooper on Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World, which provides an overview of the slave trade from Africa to Europe, with its subsequent high loss of life in transport across the Atlantic. "Cooper's strong oil-wash paintings, with their focus on individual faces, make intensely personal these statistics," wrote Hazel Rochman in a Booklist review.

Working again with Joyce Carol Thomas, Cooper provided illustrations to a "lyrical tribute to the pioneer spirit," according to Booklist's Ilene Cooper, in a review of the 1998 I Have Heard of a Land. This third collaborative effort with Thomas proved equally as successful as the earlier ones. Documenting the black pioneers in the Oklahoma land runs of 1889 and 1893, the book is a poem of praise to one woman who has heard of a land where she can start a new life. Jody McCoy, writing in School Library Journal, noted that "the poem is exalted by Cooper's warm, joyous, and majestic paintings." Similarly, Ilene Cooper felt that the author's poetry was "matched by Cooper's always evocative artwork." A contributor for Publishers Weekly likewise lauded Cooper's "signature grainy, dreamy oil-wash portraits." Cooper won a Coretta Scott King Honor Award for the illustrations to I Have Heard of a Land.

Granddaddy's Street Songs, by Monalisa DeGross, Faraway Drums, by Virginia Kroll, and Sweet, Sweet Memory, by Jacqueline Woodson all present more personal tales: a grandfather's stories about the good old days; a girl frightened by night sounds of her new neighborhood; or a young girl's preparations for her beloved grandfather's funeral. Alicia Eames praised Cooper's "brightly colored yet softly muted pastels" for Granddaddy's Street Songs in a School Library Journal review, while Booklist's Stephanie Zvirin found "Cooper's hazy yet saturated oil paintings . . . just right" for Faraway Drums. Marianne Saccardi, in a School Library Journal review of Sweet, Sweet Memory, had similar praise for Cooper's artwork, calling it "the perfect complement for Woodson's gentle text." Saccardi further noted that the artist's faces are "filled with a range of emotions, from sorrow to joy to determination to continue with the business of living."

Working with author Amy Littlesugar, Cooper has created the artwork for three further books. Shake Rag: From the Life of Elvis Presley documents the youth of the future rock and roll king in the largely black community of Shake Rag, Tennessee. Here the youthful Presley gained inspiration from the radio and from visits to a predominantly black church and its gospel music. A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that Cooper's paintings, "luminous as ever and glowing in tones of browns, yellows and earthy greens—draw readers into a fascinating era." In Tree of Hope, Little-sugar and Cooper once again "join forces to vividly evoke the past," according to another critic for Publishers Weekly. Set during the Great Depression, Tree of Hope features a young girl and her adventures with her father, an actor trying to revive Harlem's once popular theaters. The same reviewer further noted that the artist's illustrations "breathe life into both the gritty period cityscapes and the memorable characters." Miriam Lang Budin, writing in School Library Journal, also thought Cooper's artwork "capture[s] the emotions that make Littlesugar's characters vivid." Reviewing Tree of Hope in Booklist, Hazel Rochman noted that the illustrations display "the harsh poverty, the warmth of family bonds, and also the excitement and magic of being part of a show." A further collaborative effort with Littlesugar is the 2001 title Freedom School, Yes!, a fictionalized account of the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project and the Freedom Schools opened in the South by volunteers from the North. Barbara Buckley, reviewing the book in School Library Journal, called Cooper's artwork "masterful and lush," and further commended his representation of faces which exhibit "exquisite strength and real pain." For Buckley, Freedom School, Yes! was a "unique and poignant look at a moment in history." Similar praise came from a reviewer for Publishers Weekly who felt Cooper's illustrations were "as radiant as ever, depict[ing] the strength shining in the faces of people newly enlightened."

Cooper additionally provided artwork for an unpublished manuscript from the well-known children's writer Margaret Wise Brown. A nativity tale, A Child Is Born is told in verse, and according to a Publishers Weekly critic, Cooper's "radiant . . . paintings serve as elegant accompaniment" to Wise's "celebratory" text. A reviewer for School Library Journal felt while the text was "spare," Cooper's artwork "will bring forth a thousand words for a parent and child to share."

"My inspiration for illustrating picture books primarily comes from the text," Cooper explained on the Teachers at Random Web site. "Someone writes a story, and I'll read it and become totally affected by it. . . . I'll get inspired by what's going on and actually be transported to that place. I want to do that with my art—bring the viewer along with me and tell the story in the same way that I feel it when I read the story. And so that's what I attempt to do with my paintings: to sort of take you into the place that's happening in the story."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Children's Literature Review, Volume 60, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2000, pp. 14-28.

Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, edited by Bernice E. Cullinan and Diane G. Person, Continuum International (New York, NY), 2001, pp. 195-196.

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, November, 2000, review of A Child Is Born, p. 78.

Booklist, September 1, 1992, p. 54; September 15, 1993, Janice Del Negro, review of Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea: Poems, p. 115; February 15, 1994, Hazel Rochman, review of Meet Danitra Brown, p. 1085; December 15, 1994, p. 753; May 15, 1996, Kay Weisman, review of One April Morning: Children Remember the Oklahoma City Bombing, p. 1583; September 15, 1996, Bill Ott, review of Satchmo's Blues, p. 251; February 15, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of Ma Dear's Aprons, p. 1027; February 15, 1998, Susan Dove Lempke, review of African Beginnings, pp. 1002-1003; February 15, 1998, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Faraway Drums, p. 1008; February 15, 1998, Ilene Cooper, review of I Have Heard of a Land, p. 1009; February 15, 1998, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Cumbayah, p. 1014; December 15, 1998, Hazel Rochman, review of Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World, p. 746; February 15, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Bound for America, p. 1068; March 1, 1999, Julie Corsaro, review of Mardi Gras Day, p. 1223; June 1, 1999, Michael Cart, review of Granddaddy's Street Songs, p. 1838; December 15, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Tree of Hope, p. 790; February 15, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of Freedom School, Yes!, p. 1155, Henrietta M. Smith, review of Cumbayah, p. 1160.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July-August, 1994, Betsy Hearne, review of Meet Danitra Brown, p. 357; January, 1995, Roger Sutton, review of Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes, p. 162.

Childhood Education, fall, 2001, review of Freedom School, Yes!, p. 50.

Horn Book, March-April, 1989, p. 197; November-December, 1993, pp. 743-744; September-October, 1994, Lois F. Anderson, review of Coming Home, pp. 604-605; September-October, 1995, pp. 626-627; March-April, 1996, Martha V. Parravano, review of Gingerbread Days: Poems, p. 219; May-June, 1997, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of Ma Dear's Aprons, p. 310.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 1994, review of Meet Danitra Brown, p. 557; September 15, 1994, p. 1269; August 1, 1996, pp. 1148-1149; December 15, 2001, review of Danitra Brown Leaves Town, p. 1758.

New York Times Book Review, February 12, 1995, p. 13; June 18, 1995, p. 25; February 14, 1999, Peter Keepnews, review of Shake Rag: From the Life of Elvis Presley, p. 27.

Publishers Weekly, October 28, 1988, review of Grandpa's Face, p. 78; February 9, 1990, review of Laura Charlotte, p. 60; October 12, 1992, p. 78; January 18, 1993, review of Pass It On: African-American Poetry for Children, p. 471; July 26, 1993, review of From Miss Ida's Porch, p. 73; October 11, 1993, review of Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, p. 87; April 11, 1994, review of Meet Danitra Brown, p. 65; October 10, 1994, p. 70; August 26, 1996, review of Mandela: From the Life of the South African Statesman, p. 98; January 20, 1997, p. 401; March 23, 1998, review of Cumbayah, p. 94; March 30, 1998, review of Faraway Drums, p. 81; April 6, 1998, review of I Have Heard of a Land, pp. 77-79; November 2, 1998, review of Shake Rag, p. 82; January 25, 1999, review of Satchmo's Blues, p. 98; February 8, 1999, review of On Mardi Gras Day, p. 214; November 29, 1999, review of Tree of Hope, p. 70; December 13, 1999, review of Mandela, p. 85; December 20, 1999, review of Ma Dear's Aprons, p. 82; September 25, 2000, review of A Child Is Born, p. 67; November 20, 2000, review of Miz Berlin Walks, p. 70; January 8, 2001, review of Freedom School, Yes!, p. 65; July 30, 2001, review of Shake Rag, p. 87.

School Library Journal, April, 1990, p. 90; December, 1990, p. 22; September, 1992, p. 269; May, 1993, Jane Marino, review of Pass It On, pp. 99-100; November, 1993, Elizabeth Hanson, review of From Miss Ida's Porch, p. 76; November, 1994, Louise L. Sherman, review of Coming Home, pp. 95-96; December, 1994, p. 75; June, 1995, p. 87; January, 1996, p. 107; April 15, 1996, review of One April Morning, p. 69; September, 1996, p. 191; May, 1998, Dawn Amsberry, review of Faraway Drums, p. 119, Jane Marino, review of Cumbayah, pp. 130-131; June, 1998, Eunice Weech, review of African Beginnings, p. 130; July, 1998, Jody McCoy, review of I Have Heard of a Land, p. 84; July, 1999, Alicia Eames, review of Granddaddy's Street Songs, p. 68; November, 1999, Miriam Lang Budin, review of Tree of Hope, p. 123; October, 2000, review of A Child Is Born, p. 56; January, 2001, Barbara Buckley, review of Freedom School, Yes!, p. 104; April, 2001, Marianne Saccardi, review of Sweet, Sweet Memory, p. 126; February, 2002, Catherine Threadgill, review of Danitra Brown Leaves Town, p. 101; Linda Ludke, December, 2002, review of Caddie, the Golf Dog, p. 108.