I see the promised land : [a life of Martin Luther King, Jr.]

Title:

Author:

Flowers, Arthur (Arthur R.), author.

ISBN:

9789380340043

Publication Information:

[Chennai], India : Tara Books c2010.

Physical Description:

138 p. : col. ill. ; 24 cm.

General Note:

"An extraordinary jam session between two very distinctive storytelling traditions, I See the Promised Land recounts the life of Martin Luther King Jr."--Cover.

"African American writer, griot and blues singer Arthur Flowers tells a masterful story in musical prose, while Manu Chitrakar, scroll-painter from Bengal, carries the tale confidently into the vivid idiom of Patua art, turning King's journey into a truly universal legacy."--Cover.

Personal Subject:

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968-Comic books, strips, etc.

Subject Term:

African American civil rights workers -- Biography -- Comic books, strips, etc.

Genre:

Added Author:

Summary:

Presents in graphic novel format the life of the Baptist minister and Noble Peace Prize winner who became the leader and orator of the African American civil rights movement before his assassination in 1968.

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	GRAPHIC 921 KING	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	GRAPHIC 921 KING	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	GRAPHIC 921 KING	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"Both evocative and factually rich...Older teens, in addition to adults, will find this to be a standout both as a distinctive graphic narrative that combines two world storytelling traditions and as an examination of King's life and its enduring legacy across the globe." - Booklist Starred Review

"What excites me most here is how this approach can be used to reconnect the graphic novel to its many amazing antecedent narrative forms from around the world and reconfirms comics as a vast, unending human activity."--Paul Gravett, author of Graphic Novels: Stories To Change Your Life

"This YA crossover shows King's life expressed through Chitrakar's rich Patua art and Flowers's poetic text."-- Library Journal

I See the Promised Land traverses the milestones of Martin Luther King Jr.'s short life, ministry, and journey. This graphic narrative brings together two diverse yet dramatic traditions of storytelling. Renowned African American writer and griot Arthur Flowers tells a tale--replete with destiny and the human condition to Manu Chitrakar's extraordinarily vivid and eloquent art of the Patua folk style of West Bengal, India.

Author Notes

Arthur Flowers: Arthur Flowers is an African-American writer and griot, bard and blues singer. He is the co-founder of the New Renaissance Writer's Guild. A native of Memphis, TN, he currently teaches in Syracuse University in New York state.

Manu Chitrakar: Manu Chitrakar is a Patua artist from West Bengal, India.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Traditional Bengali scroll art and oral storytelling come together in this retelling of the life of Martin Luther King Jr., though the fusion of the two media is rarely harmonious. English professor and performance poet Flowers provides the text, which chronicles not only King's life but also centuries of racial abuses, beginning with the slave trade. Accompanying the text are Chitrakar's vibrant illustrations, full of lush primary colors and bold brush strokes; their power is diluted by the page layout, particularly the distracting blocks of texts superimposed over the images. Judged separately, the components are strong, and the idea to present King's life as a cross-cultural mixture of art and words is effective. Flowers shows King not only as a man committed to fighting injustice but also as one who struggled to find his place in the rapidly changing civil rights climate, as nonviolent protests were becoming a thing of the past. There is little attempt to integrate the text, let alone the font, with the imagery, however, leaving the reader with an overall impression, despite the novel approach, of disjointed parts soldered together to make a rickety whole. Ages 9-12. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Both evocative and factually rich, this presentation of the career of Martin Luther King Jr. shows the man on an authentic world stage and as a leader who learned from his travels to both India and Africa. Flowers provides an incisive and succinct text that steadily maintains the propulsive griot narrative style of King's African ancestry: This what bring King to a vision of black folk as a folk with a destiny. This what move him to the prophetic. Chitrakar's free-floating images, which juxtapose and amplify the text, are deeply steeped in the Patua scroll-painting tradition, from the Bengali faces to the panoply of browns and yellows and pinks that differentiate individuals rather than races. The choice of props and scenery speak more of India than America, and protesters' signs are written in Bengali script rather than English. Rossi's graphic layout intersperses black pages in which King's quotes are set in large white type with bright pages tracing his education as a preacher, his entry into the nascent civil rights fray, and his ascendancy to martyrdom. King's doubts about himself and others, adultery, and relationships with political leaders all receive just due. Older teens, in addition to adults, will find this to be a standout both as a distinctive graphic narrative that combines two world storytelling traditions and as an examination of King's life and its enduring legacy across the globe.--Goldsmith, Francisca Copyright 2010 Booklist

Library Journal Review

This YA crossover shows King's life expressed through Chitrakar's rich Patua art and Flowers's poetic text. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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