When Thunder Comes

Starred review from January 7, 2013
Poet Laureate Lewis casts a wide net in these stirring poems about civil rights, which highlight figures as multifarious as Gandhi and Harvey Milk, and are illustrated by five artists. The graceful and distinctive paintings offer visual homages to each subject. Milk speaks punctiliously (“They say I came before my time/ but who else would redress/ unmitigated suffering due/ to such small-mindedness?”), while Mitsuye Endo, a Japanese-American woman interned during WWII, speaks with humble defiance: “I was a typist, nothing more./ I loved my life, I hated war.” Children’s books on the subject of civil rights can sometimes result in a generic roundup of instrumental leaders; Lewis’s surprising and welcome integration of lesser-known individuals provides a holistic and enlightening look at an always pertinent topic. Ages 3–6.

December 15, 2012
The Children's Poet Laureate salutes 15 men and women, including one child, who spoke out and acted for equality and liberty, several at the cost of their lives. The names are familiar: Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Jackie Robinson, Harvey Milk, Josh Gibson, Aung San Suu Kyi. They are less well-known: Mitsuye Endo, Helen Zia, Sylvia Mendez, Dennis James Banks, Muhammad Yunus. They are wives or mothers: Coretta Scott King, Mamie Carthan Till. One is a child, Sylvia Mendez, who wanted to attend a whites-only school in California. Three died too young on a dark road in Mississippi: Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Cheney. All receive a stirring page of rhymed verse accompanied by a single- or double-page spread painting created by one of five artists: Jim Burke, R. Gregory Christie, Tonya Engel, John Parra and Meilo So. So's bright colors against a white background speak of affirmation and pride for Kyi, Zia and Milk, while Burke's somber palette evokes the fear of the three civil rights workers and the "nightmare world" of Mandela's imprisonment. Parra decorates his pages with details from the lives of Mendez, Yunus and Endo. From political activists to an astronaut and from baseball legends to a typist in a World War II internment camp, they raised their voices and sometimes their fists. Somber and inspirational. (thumbnail sketches) (Poetry. 10-16)

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April 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Lewis once again stretches his own poetic boundaries with this moving and informative collection of poems that introduce 17 courageous leaders of civil rights causes in America, Bangladesh, Burma, India, and South Africa. Some of the names will be unfamiliar to teens, but their concerns should be clearly understood. A technically perfect Shakespearean sonnet prefaces the collection, promising to draw from the poet's "thin bag of verse" some "tales of thunder" ... "For history was mute witness when such crimes/Discolored and discredited our times." The poems, written in various styles-rhymed couplets, free verse, quatrain, prose-evoke sadness, but never hopelessness; speak of bigotry and hatred replaced by acceptance and equality; and describe inhumane mistreatment that has resulted in positive change and wrongful punishment that has brought about freedom. To young Sylvia Mendez, every door at the public school "was locked with a secret combination of frowns," but she found the key. To Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker who gave small loans to the country's poor, money for fishing gear allowed some beggars "to catch eel and carp-and profits." Other subjects include Harvey Milk, Coretta Scott King, Josh Gibson, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Nelson Mandela. A note about each person, with a resource, is appended. Five illustrators each contributed three of the full-page paintings that range from softly detailed portraits in lush oils to colorful caricatures, acrylic folk art, and bright watercolors contrasted with shadowy gray. This thoughtfully written, carefully and cleverly worded collection demonstrates Lewis's poetic versatility and his ability to capture the essence of each subject and situation.-Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Heights Public Library, OH

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2013
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Seventeen civil rights leaders from around the world leap off the page, animated in pulsing verse and vibrant imagery. Lewis gives voice to a variety of fighters, including well-known activists like Mohandas Gandhi and Coretta Scott King, and less familiar heroes such as Dennis James Banks and Sylvia Mendez, illuminating each with poetic form, style, rhythm, and tone as individual as the subjects themselves. Mamie Carthan Till's elegy for her murdered son, Emmett, heaves with languid despair, while Aung San Suu Kyi's proclamation against Burmese tyranny crackles with ironic outrage. The diversity of images is similarly stunning, with some unlikely pairings of artist to activist resulting in extraordinarily moving depictions. John Parra's gentle portrait of Bangladeshi banker Muhammad Yunus glows with warmth and virtue, while Meilo So's smudgy likeness of slain politician Harvey Milk captures his determination and foreshadows his demise. Exquisite book designwith hand-lettered titles and stanzas carefully off-kilterknits everything together with cohesive polish. While the individual portraits are impressive on their own, their juxtapositions express unmistakable equality, offering readers a profound understanding of both what it takes to stand up and what happens when we stand together.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
Lewis celebrates seventeen individuals whose courageous actions opened doors for many others. Some, such as Nelson Mandela and Jackie Robinson, are well known, but most will be less familiar to children. Lewis uses a variety of poetic forms to convey information while expressing each subject's convictions. The emotive illustrations (by five artists) match the tone of Lewis's portraits. Additional information about the subjects is appended.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

October 1, 2013
Gr 5 Up-Prolific children's poet J. Patrick Lewis's new collection (Chronicle, 2012) features profiles of the civil righteous: 15 poems in a variety of forms, followed by notes that add critical context. The verses describe a variety of courageous acts, from "the asterisk career" of black American slugger Josh Gibson to Ellison Onizuka, first Asian American astronaut. The narration is shared among four narrators, male and female, who articulate the first person poems clearly and distinctly. Some evoke a particularly strong emotional connection, such as Myra Lucretia Taylor's performance as Mamie Till in "The Innocent," where she tells the story of her murdered son, Emmett. Listeners will be engaged by the rhythm of the verse. While the roster of diverse racial, cultural, and international leaders is a strength of the collection, students may not recognize them, nor will they understand some references when first hearing the poems. In "The Astronaut," for example, the line "'The world saw sudden grief in ragged streams...." may not make sense until listeners learn from the end notes that Lt. Colonel Onizuka died in the "Challenger" disaster. Also, resources for more information appear only in the print edition. Have the book available as well so that students can examine the accomplished illustrations, recognize the structure of the poetry, and hear the "tales of thunder," all enhancing their understanding of the global nature of courage.-"Toby Rajput, National Louis University, Skokie, IL"

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.