Circle Unbroken: A Story of a Basket and Its People

Description: With its rhythmic text and evocative paintings, this powerful picture book spirals through time, becoming a triumphant song that keeps the African heritage of making baskets alive--a rich story of a craft, a culture, and a people.

Brief description: MARGOT THEIS RAVEN and E. B. LEWIS collaborated on Circle Unbroken, a Booklist Top 10 Black History Book for Youth. Raven lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Review Quotes:

"Gracefully constructed...as intricate as the baskets and the history to which it pays tribute." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Clear poetic words and exquisite watercolor illustrations depict how the small circular basket holds the big circle of African-American history....Lewis' astonishing pictures combine the panoramas of upheaval and war with portraits of individuals in small circles weaving and passing on their heritage in craft and story." --Booklist, Starred Review

"Raven's text masterfully frames several hundred years of African-American history within the picture-book format. Lewis's double-page watercolor images are poignant and perfectly matched to the text and mood." --School Library Journal

"In solemn Gullah cadences, an old woman passes on to a grandchild centuries of history embodied in the Sea Islands' distinctive sweetgrass baskets...Powerfully evoking the passage of successive generations linked by the ancient skill." --Kirkus Reviews