This book was really good!! It was about a slave named Dave. His job was to construct pots. This book does an excellent job of describing what it is that Dave is making and how he is making it. The book is very descriptive in telling us how exactly he combines the clay, coils the clay, and constructs the pot. The illustrations in this book are also phenomenal. They are bright and vibrant. But they also do an excellent job of showing the reader Dave and what exactly it is that he is doing. I would use this book if I were talking about slavery. I think that this book could be used for all ages. The book talks about a South Carolina slave named Dave who was a potter in the early 1800's and he was a master at making his own pots while going through the troubled times of being a slave during the slavery period in the United States. Dave was also an experienced poet who would put poetry in his pots in order to show his great talents to other people in the story. He also learned had the ability to learn how to read and write as slaves didn't have the ability to be taught that due to having strict families who had limitations and used their slaves as property. Dave ended up becoming a great poet and artist and his mastery has made him very talented at what he does being a potter. The book was really good as it showed great illustrations and reflected upon Dave's life while going through the period of slavery. Slavery was most famous in the 1800's and ended right after the Civil War ended and the book brought back memories of the slavery days of the early to mid 1800's. I would recommend this to kids in 3rd or 4th grade because they are starting to learn about what slavery is and how it affected the blacks lives back in that time period and why everyone should be treated equally.
A wonderful read-aloud for Art History and American History!
—Cara
Beautiful children's book about a beautiful artist
—Natalia
I'm a sucker for the fold out page.
—dalys
A wonderful, hopeful story!
—wildanimal
