Working Cotton

This is a beautifully illustrated book. I purchased the book, because my mother picked cotton on her family's land from the age of 5 to adulthood. I wanted to read the book to my children so they would know where my mother had come from. The characters in this book don't own the land they work, but travel in by bus, so it wasn't completely relevant to my mother's experience, but it is an intimate glimpse into a moment of the past.

Some books that I read do not catch my eye right away, but this one caught my eye for a couple of reasons. For one, this book reminded me of the stories that my grandmother used to tell me about when she would be in the fields picking cotton. Two, this book does not make picking cotton sound like a bad thing at all. When my grandmother would tell me stories about being in the cotton fields, the stories would never sound bad, or harsh. Her stories made me want to pick up this book and read it. This book is about a little girl named Shelan who goes to the fields every morning to go pick cotton with her family. Her family consists of her father, mother, her two older sisters, and her baby sister Leanne, who her mother has to carry while she picks cotton. The story is told through Shelan's eyes, from the time that they get on the bus at dawn, to the time they leave the fields at sunset. The illustrations were as vivid as the little girl telling the story. The pictures were hazy, just like a very hot day, where there are no trees. I thought that was very symbolic. I liked this book a lot, for different reasons. But I do have one or two concerns about this book. For one, the book may not be suitable to teach to just "any" child. I think that a children's book is supposed to move at a comfortable pace. Not make the child think too hard, but just enough to spark some creative ideas. Every child is not going to be able to relate to this book, like others would. To make it plain, I do not think that a Black child would have as much trouble understanding this book, as opposed to children of other ethnicities. I (a Black male) understood the dialect in this book very well and I enjoyed reading the "broken language" because that was what I was used to as a child. I did not think twice about the dialect until I had to analyze it. After I read the whole thing, I wondered if children of other backgrounds would be able to understand this book. The author was not trying to think "politically correct," but rather, correct in the eyes of the little girl. Shelan doesn't know any better than to talk the way that she does. Just like any little child does not recognize their "grammatical speaking errors." I think that whoever is going to read this book to a class of little children should be conscious of what children they are reading it to. The makeup of the class who receives this book is very important. Just like Nappy Hair, this book is very real as far as language and vivid images are concerned. This book is very good nevertheless, and hearing a great storyteller tell this story would be a treat to the senses.

A children's book based on a book of poems by Sherley Anne Williams that first appeared in the mid-1970s. It is about a migrant family (in this case, an African-American family) who are bused from one cotton field to another to pick cotton in which the children have to help. The book is really an indictment against child labor. It shows the hardships of this life, how important the "family" is, how tired and exhausted everyone (especially children) are at the end of the day, and how much children miss playing with other children. Reading the book with other children should lead to some fruitful discussions. It is beautifully written and illustrated. The illustrator was Carole Byard and the book was a 1993 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a book for children.

Working Cotton is a very moving look at a little girl, Shelan, and her daily life of working the cotton fields. It realistically brings to life the hardships that she and her family face, through sparse prose and impressionistic artwork, the reader feels the burden of the cotton sack upon their back. I almost cried reading it, knowing that for many children in the United States and worldwide this type of work is typical and expected to help the survival of the family. Its a good book to share with children to help them not take for granted the life that they lead. And its also a great way to show that not every story has a happy ending, just an ending.