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Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library Paperback – Picture Book, August 6, 2019
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Where is our historian to give us our side? Arturo asked.
Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance stood an Afro–Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk’s life’s passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora and bring to light the achievements of people of African descent through the ages. When Schomburg’s collection became so big it began to overflow his house (and his wife threatened to mutiny), he turned to the New York Public Library, where he created and curated a collection that was the cornerstone of a new Negro Division. A century later, his groundbreaking collection, known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has become a beacon to scholars all over the world.
- Reading age8 - 12 years
- Print length48 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level3 - 7
- Lexile measure1100L
- Dimensions9.81 x 0.18 x 11.88 inches
- PublisherCandlewick
- Publication dateAugust 6, 2019
- ISBN-101536208973
- ISBN-13978-1536208979
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Editorial Reviews
Review
—New York Times Book Review
All of the book's details paint Schomburg as an admirable, flawed, likable, passionate man whose lasting legacy, Harlem's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, opens its doors to all who would learn more about the people its founder knew had been left out of the written record. A must-read for a deeper understanding of a well-connected genius who enriched the cultural road map for African-Americans and books about them.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Lifelong bibliophile Arturo Schomburg would be pleased by Weatherford’s prose-poem biography, which praises his passion for researching and collecting books, manuscripts, and other written materials relating black heritage and history...As with her previous book Voice of Freedom (2015), Weatherford illuminates a person well worth knowing. A rich book to add to all collections.
—Booklist (starred review)
Through text and art, Weatherford and Velasquez craft a winning portrait of both collector and his collection...Schomburg’s collection was donated to the New York Public Library and now boasts over 10 million items. This excellent work of history illuminates Schomburg and his legendary collection for a new generation—it belongs in all public and school libraries.
—School Library Journal (starred review)
In graceful free verse, Weatherford delivers a remarkable tribute to Arturo Schomburg...Schomburg’s ambitions, scholarship, and accomplishments were tremendous—“There was no field of human endeavor/ that he did not till with his determined hand”—and Weatherford and Velasquez more than do justice to them.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
With great respect to the man's riveting life story, Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Honors author Carole Boston Weatherford relates through narrative poetry the story of Afro-Puerto Rican immigrant Arturo Schomburg. While each poem in Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library can stand alone as a single snapshot in the literary life of Schomburg, Weatherford's portrayal of the bibliophilic law clerk is so wondrous, readers won't be able to resist turning the pages to learn more.
—Shelf Awareness for Readers (starred review)
Velasquez’s richly detailed oil paintings aptly capture Schomburg’s zeal for learning and for teaching others...A must-read about a bibliophile extraordinaire.
—Horn Book
The richness and succinctness of Weatherford’s prose and Valesquez’s vibrant art indicate to readers how much more there is to black history if they only started digging for themselves.
—HuffPost
Carole Boston Weatherford’s descriptions and Eric Velasquez’s illustrations make clear how tirelessly Schomburg searched for books, pamphlets and art that could ‘tell our stories, proclaim our glories’…Although he died about 80 years ago, his library in New York City is a national historic landmark, as big and bustling as ever.
—Washington Post
In a series of twenty poems, Weatherford offers readers a biography of the life and work of Arturo Schomburg (1874-1938)...Velasquez’s expressive oil paintings capture the time period beautifully.
—Literacy Daily
A picture book of incredible poems…Hallelujah!
—Toledo Blade
About the Author
Eric Velasquez is the illustrator of numerous books for children, including several previous collaborations with Carole Boston Weatherford. He won the John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award for his illustrations of The Piano Man, written by Debbi Chocolate. Eric Velasquez is also the author-illustrator of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award–winning Grandma’s Gift. Born in Harlem, he lives and works in Hartsdale, New York.
Product details
- Publisher : Candlewick; Reprint edition (August 6, 2019)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 48 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1536208973
- ISBN-13 : 978-1536208979
- Reading age : 8 - 12 years
- Lexile measure : 1100L
- Grade level : 3 - 7
- Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 9.81 x 0.18 x 11.88 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #548,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Excellent in public library and used for teaching as well!
materials which would feature the lives and achievements of African Americans. Growing up as a child, Arturo soon discovered that there were
no books that dealt with the lives of African Americans or their culture. Arturo felt the need to search and find book that dealt with Afro Americans. This quest soon lead to his accumulating so many books that he ran out of space in his home. Ultimately, this would bring about the founding of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.
The book keeps the interest of the read throughout each chapter. Additionally this book is a great resource for school age children who might
have to complete a research paper.
Puerto Riqueño!
I've heard it told before but now it's I have a book saying so.
This was <i>WAY</i> longer than I expected. It's pretty much a fully illustrated biography aimed at the middle grade crowd. Don't try to sit down and read this with a child in one sitting. They'll probably lose interest. Broken up into digestible bits, though, it provides an interesting selection of bios of people of African descent and the overarching story of a Puerto Rican immigrant who became instrumental in educating the world about the impact of people of African descent. For that reason, this would be the perfect read for Black History Month. If this doesn't get a Coretta Scott King award I'll be super shocked.