Maya Angelou (Journey to Freedom)

Grade 3-6-Chronological overviews of the lives of well-known African Americans. Although there is little elaboration on the material presented, there are enough details for readers to get a sense of what the protagonists' lives were like. Both titles are attractively formatted with lots of white space, print size that is easy on the eyes, and one or two clear sepia-toned or full-color photographs or reproductions per spread. Boxed captions for each picture add to the information found in the text. There are no bibliographies, yet the book on Angelou lists sources for the quoted material. Accuracy is a concern in the Tubman book. Readers are told that she had 11 brothers and sisters (she was one of 11 children). David Adler's A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman (Holiday, 1992), Dan Elish's Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad (Millbrook, 1993), and Jacob Lawrence's Harriet and the Promised Land (S & S, 1993) are already in many collections. With less written about Angelou for this audience, libraries should consider purchasing that title.
Kathleen Staerkel, Indian Trails Public Library District, Wheeling, IL
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