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'Obama' Children's Book Flying Off Shelves |
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Wednesday, 05 November 2008 |
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By Chris Levister --
MORENO VALLEY -- Nikki Grimes, celebrated children’s author, poet and teacher is a name brand in the frenzied world of publishing. The New York Times bestselling author is a veteran of some 50 children’s books and winner of prestigious awards including the Coretta Scott King Award and 2006 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. But even she admits she wasn’t prepared for the white hot response to her latest offering: Barack
Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope illustrated by award winning artist Bryan Collier.
“This book was bathed in prayer,” gushed the Corona author. Researched, penned and illustrated in record time Grimes told a diverse audience at 2T’s Books and Things in Moreno Valley, “Bryan and I assembled a team of prayer warriors and told them to start
praying now and don’t stop until I tell you to.” The book has been on the New York Times Bestsellers List more than 4 weeks and is flying off national and local retailer’s shelves.
“Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope” chronicles Obama’s life as he leads up to running for President. The first ever picture book about the Democratic candidate follows his journey from Hawaii to Chicago to Indonesia to Kenya.
“One day Hope stopped by for a visit,” begins this biography framed as an exchange between an African-American mother and her son. They sit together on a “frayed” sofa in a “tenement”
as she tells him who “Bracowhat?” is and why he is so special. At the end she blinks back tears when the boy tells her that he too wants to be president when he grows up.
Grimes explores her subject with a heavy hand, starting with her treatment of race as she describes “his mama”, ‘white as whipped cream, his daddy, black as ink’, referring to Obama’s biracial parents.
“I was inspired to write about the incredible hope surrounding the man who could become America’s first Black president. This is about the power of hope the power of dreams. Having
been born before the Voting Rights Act was amended the notion of an African-American running for president on a major party ticket was not even a fantasy.
To realize that in my lifetime, is phenomenal. The message to young people and adults alike said Grimes is “Nothing is impossible - that there is no dream that they cannot attain.”
Collier uses watercolor and collage, a choice he calls a metaphor for the way Obama has “pieced life’s issues together to create a courageous vision for the world.”
Edward and Natalie Guidry were among a crowd of attendees at the book signing. “I read this book and I was like wow.” “I was captivated by Obama’s Godly virtues, love of family and sense
of adventure. Now he’s running for president,” added Elaine Strait.” “This beautifully written book illustrated in picturesque imagery is a page turner for all races and ages,” a Times critic wrote.
What better time to promote a book about this incredible figure explained signing event host Tanya Harris, 43, owner of 2T’s. “This is a moving story about an exceptional man.”
Harris like Grimes admits she was not prepared for the onslaught of buyers.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook. People are saying hold 5 copies. The first shipment sold out within hours. I reordered, that’s gone too.”
Grimes said while her readers and audiences have always been multicultural with the ‘Obama’ book the boundaries are widening, a reflection of the senator’s unprecedented cross cultural
appeal and how far we as a nation have come.
Grimes book publisher Simon & Schuster said they have already sold a record number of copies of the book.
With a huge online audience most critics agree “Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope” is a picture book worth a thousand words. Retail price is $35, $21 online at Amazon.com.
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