More+Than+Anything+Else

Review By: Jenna Filakovsky
Author: Marie Bradby Illustrator: Chris K. Soentpiet Original Publication Date: 1995 Publisher: Orchard Books ISBN: 0-531-09464-2. Price: $5.65 Ages: 4-8 Genre: Fiction
 * Bibliographical Information: **

Marie Bradby switched from a career as a full-time journalist to writing for children after the birth of her son. Through her son, she became interested in children’s literature. Even though her days as a journalist are behind her, she uses skills she learned as a journalist. Bradby uses sharp investigative skills as she interviews people and researches archives to fill in crucial details in order to bring her characters to life in her historical fiction pieces. Her historical fiction pieces highlight the lives of African Americans in history, winning various literary awards.
 *  Author Biography: **

This story is about an African American boy named Booker who works with his father and brother John at the saltworks. Booker wants to learn how to read, but he is stuck working all day at the saltworks. Booker sees people reading and he wants to read as well. He wants to learn the secrets within books. In his town, Booker sees a black man reading a newspaper and feels hopeful that he will one day learn to read just like the man. Booker wants to work hard at learning how to read until he is the best reader in town and will be able to teach other children how to read. One day Booker tells his mother he wants to read and she gives him a small blue book. After working all day he comes home and tries to read the book at night. He doesn’t understand what he is trying to read so he finds the newspaper man he saw at the beginning of the story. The man teaches Booker the alphabet, and Booker feels saved. The newspaper man writes Booker's name on the ground, and this is Booker's first step toward reading.
 *  Summary: **

More Than Anything Else is a great historical fiction book. The pages tell a tale of an African American boy who just wants to learn how to read. Booker is determined to learn how to read and embarks on a path that was once forbidden to African American people. Though during this book African Americans are no longer enslaved, many African Americans still did not know to read. The way Bradby wrote the book engages the reader actively in Booker's quest to read. The illustrations in the book help the reader to follow Booker's journey. The illustrations also are informative. The pages in the book are dark showing how the African American people were kept in the dark by not knowing how to read. When Booker sees the newspaper man, the man is basked in light. This glowing light is representative of knowledge. Throughout the rest of the book the character and setting seems to be basked in light. This shows the knowledge Booker has gained by beginning to learn how to read. The story is about the journey Booker takes, and it is something to children can relate to since all children learn how to read.
 *  Book Review: **

In this book there is conflict. Booker is unable to read because of the conditions his people used to live in. This would be classified and person versus society conflict. Booker was unable to read because his people were once enslaved. It was illegal for slaves to learn how to read, and many of them were not taught to read for this reason. Slave owners did not want the slaves to become educated in fear of them learning about the world and rebelling. Booker worked at the saltworks with his father all day and had no time to learn how to read. His family was unable to teach him how to read, since they did not know how to read themselves. Most of the people living in the village did not know how to read and did not have access to books. Once Booker finds the newspaper man, he realizes there was hope and some African Americans knew how to read. This shows that some African Americans now knew how to read, and that they are coming out of the dark. Society was beginning to change and African Americans were a freed people who were able to start perusing paths they were unable to before. Children can analyze why most African Americans at the time of the book did not know how to read and the students can also discuss slavery and its implications on African Americans.
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