Thursday, October 18, 2007

New Book - Phillis's Big Test

This is a book that I finished illustrations for this Summer. The book is set to come out in March 2008. It's about the poet Phillis Wheatley. She was one of the first published African American poets. Because she was young and a slave, people questioned the authenticity of her work and she was asked to present her poems before a group of scholars. Catherine Clinton is the author. Houghton Mifflin is the publisher.
This was a nice oppurtunity to illustrate a story about a young woman which up to this point I had not and Phillis Wheatley was very fun to draw.I was also drawn to the story because most of it takes place while she is on the way to her exam. It reminded me of growing up and taking long walks to and from school. I loved walking through my home town. One of the amazing things was that one could walk for 30 minutes or more and barely see another person before reaching their destination. I imagined Phillis's walk to be something like this.