ALA Booklist (Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 CST 2000)

In this moving picture-book biography, Rockwell's quiet, searing words and Christie's dramatic full-page, acrylic paintings express the sorrow, anger, and strength of the woman who made herself Sojourner Truth. She was born into slavery in New York State, named Isabella, and sold away from her parents at age nine; but she grew up a free woman who became one of the great abolitionist leaders. Inspired by the Bible, she renamed herself Sojourner Truth and traveled around the country telling firsthand what it meant to be a slave. Christie's narrative paintings, with shifting scale and perspective, show the strength, physical and spiritual, of the dark, uncompromising woman, who stood six feet tall and straight in plain clothes and spoke with passionate authority. A long note fills in some of her later life, including her role in the fight for women's rights. Rockwell says she used many sources but doesn't name any of them, other than citing Sojourner Truth's autobiography.

Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2001)

Rockwell traces the life of "Isabella," who renamed herself Sojourner Truth when she began her journeys at the age of forty-six to speak out for the abolition of slavery. In Christie's paintings faces are composed of impressionistic dabs of brilliant colors that fuse into telling characterizations. It's a powerful story, well told and handsomely set: worthy of its courageous subject.

Kirkus Reviews

A lot of information is packed into this picture-book biography. Sojourner, originally named Isabella, was a Dutch-speaking child born into slavery. Details about her life in slavery, when she was purchased by an English-speaking master, her marriage to a man selected by her master, the birth and loss of her children, and the events leading up to her transformation to an advocate for freedom, are recounted with passion. Rockwell ( Career Day , p. 720, etc.) adds an author's note explaining her motivation for writing this biography and cites Sojourner's autobiography as her most helpful source. Additional information includes data about the subject's life beyond the events chronicled and a timeline. The book is written in serial style, with a cliffhanger phrase at the end of each page. Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner Christie's ( The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children , 1996) primitive-style illustrations are striking. Oversized, mask-like heads, often fierce and foreboding, dominate many of the drawings. Earth-toned colors predominate in the stark depiction of Sojourner's early life and the slave owners who mistreated her, but her strength shines through in all the illustrations. An excellent addition to the biography shelf as a compelling story of an extraordinary woman, as well as for its pertinence to school assignments. (Picture book/biography. 7-10)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

The author follows the heroine from age nine, when she is sold at auction, through her transformation into an itinerant preacher against the evils of slavery. In a starred review, <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW called it a "vibrant story with powerful content. The artwork skillfully approaches the abstract—twisting traditional perspective in a way that illuminates Sojourner's groundbreaking vision and voice." Ages 7-10. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Dec.)

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-Rockwell concentrates on the part of Sojourner Truth's life that sometimes gets passed over in the rush to the "Ain't I a Woman" speech. In her long picture-book text, the author deftly weaves facts into a narrative that is straightforward and direct, if sometimes abrupt. She includes no references or bibliography, though she does mention Truth's autobiography as the "most helpful" of the sources she used. A detailed chronology of Truth's entire life helps to give context to Rockwell's specific story, but readers will have to do some exploring on their own to get the bigger picture. Christie's paintings, in a distinctive primitive style that overemphasizes people's heads, help to portray Truth's striking personality. Her chiseled, shining face dominates every page, and when she speaks, her entire figure controls and moves the composition. Unfortunately, the distorted look of the illustrations may not appeal to many children. The book is formally laid out, with a single-page painting framed in white facing text on every spread. Though this suits the formal sense in the composed illustrations and text, it adds to the distance some readers will feel when they pick up this book. If not immediately engaging to its readers or completely illuminating of its subject, this is a well-done introductory biography with a unique perspective that may move youngsters to look for more.-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.