Phil Mendez

I really like this story. The first two pages talked about the history of the African warriors and storytellers and how that all abruptly ended when men came and took the Africans to America to be sold in slavery. Then the story opens up with a young black boy, Jacob was waking up angry and frustrated at being poor and black. In the story he fights with his Momma and tells her nothing black is good. The he goes outside and makes a snowman out of black snow with his younger brother, Peewee. After building the snowman they decide he looks cold and Pee Wee finds a piece of cloth and covers the snowman shoulders and like magic the snowman comes alive. This snowman has come alive because of the magic of the kente cloth. This snowman has come to help Jacob be proud of himself, to show him where he came from and that black is good. He does this and Jacob believes in himself and eventually saves Peewee from a burning building. It was a book that has some pretty intense ideas and concepts.
The characters are very well developed. Jacob is an angry black boy that is frustrated at what life is handing him. He lashed out at his mother frequently because he did not know what to do with his anger. He claims at one point that he hates being black. As the story progresses he begins to see through the snowman that there is many things in his heritage to be proud of and that being black is not a bad thing. That he needs to believe in himself, and that good things can happen. As a reader reads the story they will find themselves rooting for Jacob and cheering him as he grows and learns.
The plot of the story builds as the snowman comes into the picture and starts showing Jacob what he has to be proud of. The snowman shares stories and visions of Jacob’s heritage and by doing so we see Jacob begin to change. Then there is Pee Wee who loves Jacob and Momma and wants to something nice for her for Christmas. The readers fall in love with Pee Wee and there is a moment of panic when he is missing during a huge explosion in the vacant building across the street. Jacob realizes that Pee Wee is in the building collecting bottles and cans for Momma’s gift and he and the snowman run into the building to save him. The snow gives Jacob the kente cloth, tells him to believe in his strength, believe in his love for his brother, and fight off all the flames f all those bad feelings you are feeling. If he believes he can save Peewee. At the climax of the story Jacob saves Peewee but loses the snowman that melts away.
The illustrations really do a great job fitting the book. Most of the illustrations are dark and hard to see. Most of the dark pages are when Jacob is angry and it helps to set the tone of what we are reading. The lighter pages are when Jacob is have a happy time with Momma and Peewee. The illustrations are bold and swirling and impressive when they are showing the queens, warriors, the horseman of Bornu, or the scholars of Timbuktu. The illustrator does a great job weaving from reality to the dream world.
This is a great picture book for older children. It shows how someone can be unhappy about who they are but with a little soul searching may be able to change their mind.… (mehr)