I Saw Your Face - Hardcover

Tom Feelings was a groundbreaking influence for many, both artistically and politically, as noted by Jerry Pinkney in his afterword. He was the first African American to win a Caldecott Honor, and he received his third Coretta Scott King Award for The Middle Passage.

Grade 2-6–Dawes begins this book with an introduction that is well worth reading in its entirety. One day, he explains, Feelings handed him a folder filled with faces of young people he had sketched over the course of his career, while living in several different parts of the world. Dawes states that what he saw was "the story of Africa and her diaspora." This poem, written in response to those drawings, is a moving tribute to Feelings's creativity and artistry. The verses take readers on a global journey through young black faces seen in Africa, North and South America, Europe, and the Caribbean. The final lines of the poem read, "I see your face look back at me/Full of ancient stories and dreams/That tell me we have traveled far/And survived the journeys well." The next two pages feature a map of the continents and places mentioned in the book. The simple eloquence of the poem is well matched to the beauty, grace, and dignity inherent on each of the faces. In the afterword, "In Memory of Tom Feelings," Jerry Pinkney poses the following questions: "How is it that art created with such expressively nuanced line, paintings on board and ever so fragile tissue paper, could hold so much power? Or that black-and-white drawings, and paintings, could seem so rich in color?" This is a unique purchase with wide appeal.–Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH