| Circle Unbroken Articles and Reviews
Black History Articles 
Books celebrate Black History Month Copley News Service (USA) February 4, 2008 Copley News Service - Lee Littlewood
Black History Month is celebrated every February in schools and libraries. This batch of new children's books introduces real people who triumphed over adversity with strength and grace. "Circle Unbroken" by Margot Theis Raven; pictures by E.B. Lewis. Now in paperback, this gorgeous picture book decorated by artist Lewis, is told poetically by a grandmother about history and African-American ties to traditional sweet-grass baskets. With memories of faraway Africa, struggles against slavery and hopes of freedom, the grandmother weaves together a fascinating life story for her grandchildren, and will be every bit as meaningful to real audiences. She also ties in the meaning of the sweet-grass baskets, concocting a realistic tale that comes full circle. Exquisitely crafted, "Circle Unbroken" is a lovely read to celebrate Black History Month. | AUTHORS BRING U.S. HISTORY TO LIFE ON THE PAGE The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, OH) January 29, 2004 Nancy Gilson - Column: Books For Kids From "sweetgrass" baskets to baseball, a champion cyclist to Martin Luther King Jr., subjects of children's books celebrate the expected and the unexpected as Black History Month approaches. Two books are inspired by the woven coil baskets of the Sea Islands of Georgia. Each is set in contemporary times but recalls the African ancestors who brought the craft to the Americas and the legacy of slavery. In Sandra Belton's Beauty, Her Basket (Greenwillow, $15.99, ages 5 to 10), an oblique "Nana" introduces her grandchildren to ancestral stories and wisdom as she quells their squabbling. Cozbi Cabrera's accompanying paintings are magnificent. Impressionistic and full of color, they depict the island landscape and African dreams. Circle Unbroken (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16, ages 6 to 10) is more straightforward in stepping back in time to the abduction of Africans, then leading up through the Civil War and into the present. A grandmother teaching her grandchild how to make baskets serves as the vehicle in the poetic story written by Margot Theis Raven and illustrated by E.B. Lewis. | AFRICAN-AMERICAN KIDS' TALES INSPIRE. EDITORIAL - The Capital Times February 27, 2004 Byline: Karyn Saemann Years later, Alex Haley's "Roots" still lingers in my mind. Since I'm a descendant of European farmers and laborers, it's not my personal history. But if America is truly a melting pot, the epic tale of one family's journey from freedom to slavery to freedom is part mine. In February, Black History Month, we embrace the idea that one ethnic group's story belongs to us all. There's no better way to do that than to read to a child. With age-appropriate prose and captivating illustrations, "Elsina's Clouds," a picture book written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter; "Circle Unbroken," a picture book by Margot Theis Raven with illustrations by E.B. Lewis; and a boiled-down board book version of Katherine Grace Bond's best-selling "The Legend of the Valentine," with the original illustrations by Don Tate, will strengthen an African-American child's sense of personal heritage and start children of other backgrounds off on a path to color blindness. My favorite of the three was the beautifully illustrated "Circle Unbroken," which follows one family's journey from Africa to slavery to modern-day life in the low country of South Carolina and Georgia. The sweetgrass baskets their ancestors wove in Africa, a grandmother tells her granddaughter, are the same baskets African-American women today sell to tourists who visit the islands off the southeastern coast of the United States. When her "Old-Timey Grandfather" was brought to this country, he would weave baskets at night, after slaving in the fields by day, the girl is told. "The grasses brought him comfort. His fingers knew their secret. Never Forget,' they whispered, as he sewed the palmetto stripes in and out, around and through. His circle grew and grew. And when his fingers talked just right, his basket held the rain, and he remembered from where he came." The story progresses through the Civil War, World War II and the coming of tourists to the coastal islands. I did find it odd that no mention is made of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. But for this story, the author decided to focus on regional rather than national history. As I read to my son, the book made me want to learn more about sweetgrass basket-making and its place in American history. For parents or teachers to who want to delve deeper, Grace Bond includes a nice bibliography and a pagelong historical account of this basket craft. | |
Reviews | The Naperville Sun (Naperville, IL) February 19, 2004 Linda Piwowarczyk `CIRCLE UNBROKEN' These baskets hold water -- and the past too. Margot Theis Raven's new book will hold children 6 on up entranced as well. It's the history of a people being passed to each new generation, as new fingers learn old ways in "Circle Unbroken." Grandmother teaches her granddaughter the skill and stories behind her basket sewing. While Grandmother articulates an black heritage, 2003 Coretta Scott King Award winner E.B. Lewis paints it; sunshine shimmers and colors sparkle in page-filling art. Author: Margot Theis Raven Illustrator: E.B. Lewis Publisher: Melanie Kroupa Books; March 2004 |
| NEW TITLES FOCUS ON GIVING FOR YOUNG READERS The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI) December 7, 2004 Merri Lindgren and Megan Schliesman For the State Journal Truly memorable gifts don't always come in wrapped boxes. A basket of fresh blueberries and the passing down of a family tradition are a few of the unconventional, yet significant, offerings in these excellent new books for children and teenagers "Circle Unbroken" by Margot Theis Raven. Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. (Melanie Kroupa Books / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004, 40 pages, $16, ages 6-9) A grandmother connects the past with the present for her granddaughter as she teaches her how to make a sweetgrass basket. In doing so, she is bestowing two gifts on the child: the skill of basket weaving, and the story of her past, which stretches back many generations to Africa. The grandmother's tells the girl of a young man in Africa who was taught to weave a basket, "Just as I am teaching you." His basket pleased the elders of his village, "Just as I am pleased with you." Margot Theis Raven's moving story briefly but powerfully traces the history of African Americans through the child's family history. Through it all, there are two constants: the passing of the skilled tradition, and the love of parents and elders for children -- always affirmed, just as the grandmother affirms her grandchild in many ways. The unbroken circle that the basket represents embraces the past and present, weaving it into the future. An author's note provides additional information about sweetgrass or "Gullah" baskets from the coastal islands off of South Carolina Georgia, where the story is set. E.B. Lewis's full-page illustrations are stirring, resonant with emotion. |
| The Washington Post March 14, 2004 Circle Unbroken: The Story of a Basket and Its People, by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by E.B. Lewis (Farrar Straus Giroux). This beautiful book honors the Gullah slave communities of South Carolina and Georgia that brought the craft of grass basketry from Africa, as well as the descendants who have preserved it. But since Raven is writing for children, not scholars, she weaves the history and the art into a story told by an old woman to her granddaughter. The motif of the circle recurs in many ways: in baskets coiled so tightly they hold the rain; in tales and skills passed on; in ring shouts; and in "the arms that hold and circle" the young listener. Aside from two pages depicting the passage and sale of slaves, the book dwells less on the sadness, violence and cruelty of the black experience in America than on the joy and dignity sustained by a people against all odds. E.B. Lewis's watercolors are simply luminous. |
| | Gullah Articles James Island festival to celebrate culture The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) June 18, 2006 A decade after the debut of Eleanor Kinlaw-Ross' first play, "Hush Dat Gullah," she is set to stage its sequel at a new festival to celebrate a vanishing Gullah culture on James Island. In "Hush Dat Gullah," Gal, the matriarch of the Sol Legare community, falls heartbroken and dies in the last scene after her daughter, Martha Ann, scorns her Gullah upbringing: the food, the language and the way Gullahs worship. In the play's sequel, "Gullah Gone Da Heaven," Kinlaw-Ross follows Gal to the Pearly Gates. Before she passes through, however, Gal encounters characters from her earthly existence. The meetings give Gal revelations of the island's history that she did not know when she was alive. "Gullah Gone Da Heaven" moves beyond Gal's newfound understanding of the island's past. It encircles the real-life struggle of how development and commerce are encroaching on the James Island of Kinlaw-Ross' childhood. "The growth and development on the island is literally shifting the culture," said Kinlaw-Ross, an Atlanta-based writer and cultural historian who grew up on Sol Legare Road. "As the land becomes more valuable, others are discovering what everyone knew all along, that this is indeed God's country." The change on the island, with a history rooted in Colonial South Carolina, spurred Kinlaw-Ross to create and produce the Island Heritage Festival. The five-day festival begins Thursday as a commemoration of the island's history and culture that Kinlaw-Ross did not always appreciate. She gained an appreciation of it after watching "Family Across the Sea," a documentary that chronicles the 1989 visit of 14 Gullah people from South Carolina and Georgia to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. Gullah people are descendants of enslaved West Africans who worked on South Carolina and Georgia plantations. Many of them were brought to the New World because of their skill to grow rice. Gullah people have retained more of their African culture and language than any other community of black Americans. The documentary, Kinlaw-Ross said, helped her realize "that I was part of a rich and abiding culture. I literally sat on my couch and cried that night because it then all made sense. Why we ate rice every day and why we talk the way we do." It is hoped that the festival will pass an appreciation of the culture to children. A festival workshop also will show residents how they can make better decisions to improve their lives. The festival events will include a cultural literacy story hour Friday at Hope's Treasure Chest, a preschool on Folly Road. Volunteers will read Margot Theis Raven's book "Circle Unbroken" to 100 children preschool age to 10. Each of the children will receive a copy of the book, which recounts a grandmother's tales of how the African heritage of Gullah people is retained through sweetgrass baskets. Harriett Wilder, a retired Charleston County educator, is the owner and operator of Hope's Treasure Chest. "We hope that these books will be cherished by the children," said Wilder, who serves on the festival's local board of advisers. "We are looking beyond today. "Our history is readily being erased, and this is one way that we will have 100 children who can carry it on." After graduating from high school, Virgil Fludd left the Green Hill community on James Island. He is an Atlanta-based executive search consultant and a member of the Georgia Legislature. "Celebrating our heritage is truly celebrating a lot of sacrifices and trials that our elders made more than 100 years ago that were life-altering decisions," said Fludd, a member of the festival's three-member national advisory board. But the decisions that today's residents face on an individual basis can be just as profound, he said. "The small-scale decisions we face every day affect our financial and political lives and our children's education." A financial literacy workshop will be held June 26 at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Folly Road. Although Kinlaw-Ross lives in Atlanta, she instinctively returns to James Island to visit the sites of her childhood. "I have always had saltwater between my toes," she said, standing at the concrete boat landing at the end of Sol Legare Road. That boat landing was not there when she was a child, crabbing in the Stono River. At the other end of Sol Legare Road, Kinlaw-Ross, dressed in clam diggers, would arrive at the community gathering spot called The Patio. That end of the road has changed, too. A food store takes up part of the intersection. Across Folly Road, condos are rising near the edge of the marsh. The change is more than new buildings, Kinlaw-Ross lamented. "Change brings new people to the island, and when people come, they bring their culture with them, and the island will not be the same." |
Review -- DVD | 'Circle Unbroken' - DVD aimed at raising cultural awareness for younger audiences Special to The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) By Angela Hanyak Thursday, December 25, 2008 It's no secret to most kids that the stress of the holidays can make Mommy or Daddy a lousy storyteller. Dad's been talking about football with Grandpa, and Mom keeps worrying that Grandma won't like her cooking. Luckily, a local production company has taken on the task of bringing intriguing stories to life for pint-size audiences with a combination of live action, visual art and classical music. ArtsMusic Productions recently released its first DVD, "Circle Unbroken." The disc is based on the book of the same name by Margot Theis Raven, a title that was distinguished as a Booklist Top 10 Black History Book for Youth upon its release in 2007. The story chronicles the history of the sweetgrass basketmaking tradition from its beginnings in West Africa, transport to North America via the slave trade and contemporary popularity as a Lowcountry staple. ArtsMusic director Sandra Nikolajevs chose the story for its wide appeal and layers of meaning. "The magic of this book is that it works on many levels. It has a subtlety that does not overwhelm children with the darker themes while at the same time providing adults many things to think about," she said. The film is enhanced with illustrations by E.B. Lewis and music composed by the late William Grant Still. The cultural awareness that the story imparts to young viewers is aimed at those from the third to fifth grades, with an added exposure to classical music performed by Chamber Music Charleston. Nikolajevs sees the DVD as a resource for parents to bring the arts into the living room at a young age. "This is something tangible that can be watched over again, unlike a memory of a performance," she said. The initial interest in "Circle Unbroken" has encouraged ArtsMusic to add a second installation to what Nikolajevs hopes will become a vibrant series of culturally educational productions for children. She'd even like to see them enter elementary school libraries in South Carolina. "The educational possibilities of the DVD are extraordinary," Nikolajevs says. ArtsMusic has developed a curriculum guide to accompany the disc and provide teachers with a wealth of lesson plans based on South Carolina education standards. If used to its fullest potential, ArtsMusic may have on its hands a more home-grown and slightly grown-up series akin to the popular Baby Einstein series. But that's all in the future. Right now, Nikolajevs is focusing on bringing "Circle Unbroken" to as many Lowcountry audiences as possible. The DVD is on sale downtown at the Gibbes Museum gift shop and Historic Preservation Society Book and Gift Shop, as well as on Amazon.com and ArtsMusic Productions' Web site, www.artsmusicproductions.com. |
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