cover image Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History

Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History

Walter Dean Myers, illus. by Floyd Cooper. Harper, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-027709-3

The late Myers, former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, powerfully examines the life of Frederick Douglass, born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, exploring the role that literacy played as he endeavored to free himself from slavery and work toward equality for all. Working in his signature oil-and-eraser technique, Cooper creates a series of striking portraits of Douglass as an inquisitive child, a “tall, well built and very unhappy” youth, and as a statesman who “continued to work and speak for the rights of all Americans” even after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. It’s a stirring testament to the power of words and daring action to create change. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Miriam Altshuler, DeFiore and Company. (Jan.)