Tar Beach

CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD WINNER • CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST ILLUSTRATED BOOK Acclaimed artist Faith Ringgold seamless weaves fiction, autobiography, and African American history into a magical story that resonates with the universal wish for freedom, and will be cherished for generations. Cassie Louise Lightfoot has a dream: to be free to go wherever she wants for the rest of her life. One night, up on “tar beach,” the rooftop of her family’s Harlem apartment building, her dreams come true. The stars lift her up, and she flies over the city, claiming the buildings and the city as her own. As Cassie learns, anyone can fly. “All you need is somewhere to go you can’t get to any other way. The next thing you know, you’re flying among the stars.”

Found family photographs from New York's Little Italy portray a vanished way of life In Tar Beach, photographer and Little Italy resident Susan Meiselas (born 1948) brings together found pictures that were made, kept and gathered by various families who handed them down from 1940 to the early 1970s. Reflections from the community offer perspectives of multiple generations, as local author Angel Marinaccio says: "If you had an accomplishment--communion, confirmation, wedding, graduation or birthday, you'd dress up in your best outfit and go to the rooftop to take pictures and celebrate with your family." The introduction to Tar Beachis written by renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who grew up on the streets portrayed in this collection. He writes: "The roof was our escape hatch and it was our sanctuary. The endless crowds, the filth and the grime, the constant noise, the chaos, the claustrophobia, the non-stop motion of everything ... you would walk up that flight of stairs, open the door, and you were above it all. You could breathe. You could dream. You could be." Meiselas, along with two of her neighbors, Angel Marinaccio and Virginia Bynum, collected and curated these vernacular photographs and memories to convey the feeling of this special place and time in the daily lives of Italian immigrants as they made their way to becoming part of American culture.

Count all the good things from one to ten that Cassie and her family take to the rooftop for their scrumptious picnic on Tar Beach. Lemonade, chickens, watermelons, and chocolate chip cookies are just some of the things they're going to enjoy. Toddlers will love learning to count with this delicious introduction to numbers.

Winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own introduce young readers to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean--and definitely not inside the lines--to be beautiful.

When Cassie Louise Lightfoot encounters Harriet Tubman and a mysterious train in the sky, what follows is a compelling journey in which the author masterfully integrates fantasy and historical fact (School Library Journal, starred review). Full color.

Acclaimed artist and Caldecott-winning picture book creator Faith Ringgold shares an inspiring look at America's lineage in this stunning ode to our country--past, present, and future. America is a land of diversity. Whether driven by dreams and hope, or escaping poverty or persecution, our ancestors--and the faces of America today--represent people from every reach of the globe. And each person brought with them a unique gift--of art and music; of determination and grit; of ideas and strength--that forever shaped the country we all call home. Vividly evoked in Faith Ringgold's sumptuous colors and patterns, WE CAME TO AMERICA is an ode to every American who came before us, and a tribute to the children who will carry its message into our future.

It's a special day for Cassie. Her daddy's taking her out for a surprise treat. As she gets dressed, she chooses many colorful items: her yellow-and-red polka-dot dress, purple shoes, a green pocketbook. What's the surprise? He's taking her to the ice cream parlor, with its blueand-orange sign. Cassie orders her favorite--a pink strawberry sundae!

One of the country's preeminent African-American artists and an award-winning children's book author shares the fascinating story of her life as she looks back on her struggles, growth, and triumphs in this gorgeously illustrated work. (Memoir)