Publisher's Weekly Review
This stirring visual memoir of WWII is a personal departure for Bryan (Freedom Over Me), an artist best known for his vibrantly illustrated folktales and poetry for children. Drafted during 1943, his third year at Cooper Union, Bryan found the U.S. Army segregated in baffling and infuriating ways. Barred from most meaningful work, soldiers of color were limited to service as custodians and laborers. They sat at the backs of buses while German POWs laughed and joked up front. Despite the injustice, Bryan used every spare minute to grow as an artist, and with his supplies stashed with his gas mask, he drew and drew, even under threat of punishment: "the harder it was to draw, the more important it was to do it!" Bryan's own drawings and paintings, letters to his college friend Eva ("I'm really writing you Eva now to cheer me up"), wartime photographs, and text combine in generous, beautifully designed spreads to produce a multimedia experience on each page. Illuminating, disturbing, and ultimately triumphant, this account of WWII, as seen through the eyes of a soldier of color and an artist of extraordinary power, is a precious resource for readers of all ages. Ages 10--up. (Oct.)
Horn Book Review
Ashley Bryan was a nineteen-year-old art student when he was drafted into a segregated army unit of stevedores, where he used every opportunity to sketch and record his experiences, from training to D-Day and its aftermath. Bryan's present-day text serves as a kind of voice-over to the scores of images included: original paintings and drawings, letters, journal passages, photos, maps, and army posters. This wealth of overlapping visual elements could have resulted in a cluttered presentation; instead, the dynamic book design and lavish production choices make this a fully immersive experience. The ultimate gift book for Ashley Bryan fans. (Some of this material can be seen in "Ashley Bryan's WWII Drawings" by H. Nichols B. Clark in our May/June 2018 issue.) Lolly Robinson November/December 2019 p.131(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
In this haunting story, Bryan recalls his experiences during WWII. His draft notice arrived when he was a 19-year-old student at Cooper Union. Since childhood, he had drawn the world around him, and he continued to sketch throughout the war, using his gas mask to hold his pencils and his art to help him survive the brutality around him. Growing up in Brooklyn, Byran, who is Black, had known racial prejudice but not segregation, which he encountered in the Army. His battalion served in Boston and Glasgow before facing the horrors of war on Omaha Beach. Throughout those years, he continued to draw and write letters. The letters combine with Bryan's thoughtful text to form a vivid, personal narrative. Similarly, the sketches are accompanied by later paintings as well as black-and-white photos of the times and the places mentioned. Sometimes the drawings overlay the photos in intriguing ways. Color is used sparingly and effectively throughout the volume. Bryan's expressive use of words and art is all the more powerful as he recalls acts of kindness as well as the segregation and racism that persisted throughout the war and even after its end. A beloved artist and writer reflects on his war and how he coped with it, by drawing, drawing, drawing. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2020 Booklist
Kirkus Review
Renowned artist and children's-book creator Bryan shares his journey through World War II.Best known for his brightly colored paintings of flowers and joyful scenes, here Bryan shares a part of his life that was less bright. Bryan was in his third year of art school when he was recruited to join the U.S. Army in 1943. Training for service in an all-black battalion, being deployed to Europe to fight with the Allied Forces on D-Day, and spending months trying to get his men back homethese experiences did not stop Bryan from pursuing his development as an artist. He was always drawing and sketching, and his fellow soldiers and even some of his superiors encouraged him to do so. His years in the Army are effectively detailed in a multimedia format that has the intimate feel of a scrapbook being shared by the author. The main text is a retrospective narration surrounded by extensive primary documents: old photographs and documents, handwritten letters (whose contents are also set in a small blue type for easier reading), paintings, and sketches, both standing alone and overlaid on top of photographs. So many unique yet universal aspects of the human experience are touched upon in this lovingly shared memoir: the passion that kept an artist going through the most difficult times, the contradictions of war against Nazism with segregation at home and within the U.S. Army.Watching Bryan generously transform the bittersweet into beauty is watching the meaning of art. (note, sources, index) (Memoir. 10-adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
