School Library Journal Starred Review (Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2013)

Gr 7 Up-Who better to give Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life story the full mythopoeic treatment than the renowned African American novelist and performance poet. Flowers's hyper-vernacular language, swinging rhythms, and conspiratorial first-person tone lend his words a vivacity that is nearly audible. He weaves the entire history of the enslavement of black Americans into King's story, refers to unspecified gods taking an interest in affairs, and comments on King's speeches with impressive insight. Brilliant and engaging, Flowers's composition should be added to the MLK canon. The art is by a scroll painter from a small village in Bengal, India, who had never heard of Dr. King prior to this project. In some ways, this is a successful pairing. The vivid colors and bold forms of Patua are appropriately emphatic, and the naive style matches Flowers's references to "hoodoo" and his chosen narrative persona, Rickydoc Trickmaster. However, the images are repetitive, and it can be difficult to distinguish individuals. People often appear to be wearing inappropriately peaceful expressions; this, readers are informed in the back matter, is a characteristic of Patua style but might be puzzling for young people. Design also plays an important role. Images are cut into pieces for emphasis, text is artfully placed in blocks that not only enhance readability but also reinforce the counterpoint between narrative and commentary. A colorful and passionate addition to the Martin Luther King, Jr., bookshelf, perhaps best suited to classroom use.— Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2013)

This book uses an innovative design to blend African griot storytelling and folk art from India to create a bold graphic homage to Dr. King. The illustrations, drawn in the style of Patua scroll painters (a combination of sequential and performance art), recast the story with a distinctively Indian flair.

Kirkus Reviews

A new edition of a 2010 graphic telling of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. via Patua scroll paintings. In this rather disjointed patchwork of pictures and prose--the art by Bengali artist Chitrakar, and the text by poet Flowers--the main points of King's life are depicted in the traditional Indian art. Flowers doesn't shy away from any aspects of King's life, describing his accomplishments and foibles straightforwardly ("Boy got a weakness for the flesh"). Chitrakar's characters are often portrayed with one-color apparel (that often look like Nehru jackets) against monochromatic backdrops, negating any feel for the 1960s Southern setting. The accompanying text varies in size and typeface, wandering almost drunkenly over pages in a free-form style that makes for a complicated path. Consistent with Flowers' blues-based approach, the actual prose doesn't adhere to grammatical conventions, easily mixing in contemporary slang like "oldschool" and "mack." King's actual words march across black double-page spreads in alarmingly huge white font (at times used for the author's words as well). These components all combine for an effect that is distracting and disjointed. With many choices of works about King, there are certainly better selections to be made. In the end, it feels more like experimental performance art than biography. (editorial notes) (Graphic biography. 15 & up)