Sunday, March 14, 2010

Most Loved in All the World Tonya Hegamin Cozbi Cabrera

Most Loved in All the World by Tonya Hegamin illus. by Cozbi Cabrera
I loved both of Hegamin's YA novels - M+O 4EVR and Pemba's Song: A Ghost Story which was co authored with Marilyn Nelson. This year Hegamin and Cabrera were both featured over at TheBrownBookshelf for their annual 28 days later campaign. Hegamin is the 2010 winner of the Ezra Keats Award for Most Loved in All the World. I took all of the above as a sign. It was time to finally read Most Loved in All the World.

On the front cover it says this is a Freedom story and I agree. Though I believe its also a story of sacrifice. A little girl lives on a plantation with her mother. She watches her mother pick cotton until her hands her bleeding. The mother doesn't let her worn down hands stop her from making a quilt that will help lead her daughter to freedom. The mother must stay behind to help over slaves find their way to freedom

I can pick a page a random and feel the full force of the words and illustration. Hegamin's text is conise and powerful. The mother daughter connection is there from the beginning. Cabrera's art is simply amazing, and a perfect fit for a quilting story abut freedom. Most Loved in All the World is beautiful on so many levels. I loved it.

1 comment:

Jeannine said...

sounds amazing. the kind of book i like to study to help me with my own craft.