Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It
by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Brian Pinkneyon September 29, 2020
Genres: Middle Grade, Historical
Pages: 224
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Rating:
From bestselling and award-winning husband and wife team Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, comes an innovative, beautifully illustrated novel that delivers a front-row seat to the dramatic events that led to African Americans earning the right to vote.
"Right here, I'm sharing the honest-to-goodness." -Loretta
"I'm gon' reach back, and tell how it all went. I'm gon' speak on it. My way." -Roly
"I got more nerve than a bad tooth. But there's nothing bad about being bold." -Aggie B.
Loretta, Roly, and Aggie B., members of the Little family, each present the vivid story of their young lives, spanning three generations. Their separate stories - beginning in a cotton field in 1927 and ending at the presidential election of 1968 -- come together to create one unforgettable journey.
Through an evocative mix of fictional first-person narratives, spoken-word poems, folk myths, gospel rhythms and blues influences, Loretta Little Looks Back weaves an immersive tapestry that illuminates the dignity of sharecroppers in the rural South. Inspired by storytelling's oral tradition, stirring vignettes are presented in a series of theatrical monologues that paint a gripping, multidimensional portrait of America's struggle for civil rights as seen through the eyes of the children who lived it. The novel's unique format invites us to walk in their shoes. Each encounters an unexpected mystical gift, passed down from one family member to the next, that ignites their experience what it means to reach for freedom.
Content Tags:
Perfect for readers who want:
- Historical fiction about sharecropping.
- Stories based on real accounts under Jim Crow.
- The ugly truth about the fight for civil rights.
- A heartfelt tale spanning two generations.
- Three voices, each filled with hope for the future.
- Beautiful, poetic writing about an ugly subject.
Many thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Hear Our Voices for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review and for inclusion on this tour.
I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this book going in. I just thought it sounded like an important story to tell. Boy was I ever surprised.
Loretta Little Looks Back is a multi-generational told from the point-of-views of three Little family members as they look back on their struggles under the wings of Jim Crow, filled with voice, family, struggle, and hope.
While this book is light on plot and doesn’t have a whole ton of action, it’s packed cover to cover with heart and some hard truths. The way it’s told (in monologues with plenty of voice) makes it an accessible read for younger children, but still something I’d recommend for the older middle grade crowd due to some violent and potentially upsetting content that the younger kiddos may not know how to process.
Because of the way it’s written, I could see this making a great classroom addition for a more hands-on, engaging look at Jim Crow era life. The writing style basically invites classroom participation, with the ability to pull out little skits for kids to perform and deepen understanding. It’d make a great jumping-off point for classroom discussions.
The writing in this is poetic and unique, told in a series of monologues filled with voice.
The book is written exactly how people would talk, so if that bothers you, this might be a struggle. I admit that it took some time for me to get used to, and I struggled the most with Aggie’s perspective. Still, each part is told very conversationally, in short vignettes that are easy to digest.
Loretta Little is the youngest daughter of a sharecropper single father. She’s strong and determined and stubborn as a mule. When she decides she wants something, she sets out to get it, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Roly is a Night-Deep child, abandoned in a field and taken in by the Littles, raised mostly by Loretta. He’s sturdy and steadfast, knows how to get where he’s going and doesn’t mind taking the scenic path to get there. He’s as solid and strong as an oak, but maybe a little too like an oak, his roots run deep, and he’s not particularly flexible or amenable to change.
Aggie is Roly’s daughter, a free spirit like her mother, raised to take on the world by her aunt, and given all the love her father can afford. In so many ways, she’s the culmination of the Little family and propels them forward into the future.
Each voice throughout this was unique, as was each character’s struggle, even though they all tied together. Their overall messages were slightly different, too.
You’ll just have to read to find that one out, but I liked how each narrative touched on similar struggles, but the way they each handle it is very different. I’d like to say things get better from Loretta’s perspective to Aggie’s, but that’s not necessarily true. Things are different, but different isn’t always better.
Reaching is the space between seeing and stretching.
Reaching is breathing. Seeking.
Reaching is the blood that makes your heart beat for what it wants. So, come with me. With us. Look back.
Reach.
The characters are already facing a lot, but Loretta is diagnosed with MS, which becomes a big part of her story—one she refuses to let stop her.
Does it slow her down sometimes? Of course. The disability rep in this is realistic. There are days Loretta just can’t, no matter how much she wants to. Later, in Aggie’s story, she relies heavily on her cane. But at no point does she let can’t turn into won’t.
I thought this aspect was so well done, because it doesn’t shy away from the realities of such a diagnosis, especially the effects on the life of a Black sharecropper living under Jim Crow. It could mean the difference between living and starving for that family. Yet, they pull together and find a way, whatever that looks like from day to day. Why? Because Loretta is more than her diagnosis.
Loretta has so many strikes against her in this book—a black, barely educated, poor, sharecropper, female with multiple sclerosis. So when Loretta fights, she’s fighting for the right to be everything she is, and it’s that much more poignant.
It would be so easy for her to just stay down and accept her lot in life, but that is not at all how Ms. Loretta Little looks at things, and I loved it. The lengths she goes through is astounding and inspiring, just for something we all take for granted: the right to vote. It’s a dire reminder of why it’s important not to forget the past and whose shoulders our rights are built on.
M-and-S could mean Meek-and-Small or Might-and-Strong.
The authors have done a great job of injecting symbolism and repetition in the story, tying the three narratives together with items and word choices.
Since this is told from three different perspectives, each with a different narrative, it’d be easy for this to feel disjointed or disconnected, but that’s not the case. The Pinkneys really pull the story together with the repeated themes, like the idea of reaching. Or a pair of blue socks that were Loretta’s prized possessions.
In some ways, the narratives still feel a little disjointed, even though the same people appear in all of them, but the way these things keep recurring pulls them together. It was always nice to stumble upon something in the later sections that hearkened back to the earlier ones, and it was exciting to recognize something from earlier parts come up again.
Reaching is one of them. I’m certain ’bout reaching. Sure of it.
When suffering runs up from behind, you reach for whatever grit you gots inside.
When hatred follows you home, you reach for the darkest hiding place to can find, ‘specially in the deepest night.
When the moon winks, you meet it by reaching with your eyes. By keeping the sky’s glowing hope inside you, where you reach for that, too.
While the story itself and the characters aren’t real, the author’s note details the real-life inspirations for some of the things that happen in the book.
And listen, guys, it ain’t pretty. But did you expect it would be?
This book is guaranteed to boil your blood, from the way Blacks are treated in general, to the way a twelve-year-old is treated just because she’s Black. TWELVE! Ugh. There are no words.
The authors have done a great job of capturing the time period—the endless struggle for equality and rights, even when they didn’t officially have a name for it yet, the striving to be seen as people, as equals. Also important, though, is the depiction of the importance of family, of community, of coming together for a purpose.
Even though, by all means, this book has every right to be dark and dreary, it isn’t. Yes, it tackles hard topics, head on, without shying away, but also not making the situation seem hopeless nor the people completely downtrodden.
Mr. Washington, Mr. Jefferson, I guess you’ve been stamped on our quarters and nickels because you’re America’s founding fathers. But after you founded our nation, then what?
Do you know Colored people are lost in segregation’s struggle?
And since, from studying for so many voting tests, I know that I know that you, Mr. Jefferson, signed the Declaration of Independence proclaiming all men are created equal. What did you mean by that? And what about we women?
About Andrea Davis Pinkney
Andrea Davis Pinkney is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of nearly 50 books for young readers, among them The Red Pencil and A Poem for Peter, as well as several collaborations with her husband Brian Pinkney, including Sit -In and Hand in Hand, which received the Coretta Scott King Book Award.
Brian Pinkney has illustrated numerous books for children, including two Caldecott Honor books, and he has written and illustrated several of his own books. Brian has received the Coretta Scott King Book Award for Illustration and three Coretta Scott King Book Award Honor medals.
The Pinkneys have been named among the "25 Most Influential People in Our Children's Lives" by Children's Health magazine. They live in Brooklyn, New York.
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Wow this post is AMAZING, I love all your graphics! This book also sounds brilliant, I am running to add this to my TBR😍
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to read it!