

No More! Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance
Spring 2002 Non-FictionShane Evans' large, expressive illustrations are evocative of the period and the subject matter.
Deborah Taylor ©2002 Parents' Choice
This large-format, handsomely illustrated collection consists of slave narratives, Black spirituals and folktales, and sensitively selected moments in U.S. slave history from colonial times to the close of the Civil War. Because author Rappaport has wisely chosen her sources and excerpts, the reader feels-- rather than is told about-- the condition of slavery. We learn that mutinies aboard slave ships were so frequent that traders carried insurance to cover their losses in case of a slave rebellion. We marvel at the ingenuity of slaves who started schools (though it was illegal for them to be taught to read); at the strength of those who managed to buy their freedom; at the bravery of those who spied for the Union during the Civil War. Not every inclusion is strong, but the whole is somehow greater than the sum of its parts. At their best, artist Shane W. Evans' full-page oil paintings rival the work of Jacob Lawrence in another memorable picture book about slavery: Harriet and the Promised Land.