Etched in Clay
Review
By Kirkus Reviews
Cheng follows on the Caldecott Honor–winning Dave the Potter, by Laban Carrick Hill and illustrated by Bryan Collier (2010), to further open up the fascinating life of the enslaved potter named Dave for children. . . . Cheng’s spare free-verse poems masterfully highlight the repeated hardships Dave endured: being relocated no fewer than four times when loaned or sold to a new owner; losing two wives when their owners forced them to move to different states; losing his leg after being hit by a train; and, in the face of severe anti-literacy laws designed to keep slaves down, bravely creating art that “etched in clay” his ability to read and write. . . . [It is] at once intimate and universal; the riveting story of an unforgettable life lived during an unbelievable time.
Reviews & Comments
Leonard Todd, authorSal's Fiction Addiction
Carousel Magazine
Wordswimmer
Prose and Kahn
Washington Post
Ohioana Quarterly
LitPick
Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
Randomly Reading
Children's Literature
What's Carol Reading
Biblio Links
4th Grade Reading
Cynthia Curtis
Missouri State University
Horn Book Magazine
Booklist
Richie's Picks
School Library Journal
Waking Brain Cells
Terry Hong, Book Dragon