On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison
by Jerdine Nolen (Author) James E Ransome (Illustrator)
Discover the early life and legacy of groundbreaking American writer Toni Morrison in this beautifully illustrated nonfiction picture book biography.
Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Ohio, Toni Morrison grew up listening to her family tell myths, legends, and stories from the Bible. She loved hearing the music and power of the words. Toni also heard new stories from the students from other countries who went to her school. After an early childhood of soaking up tales from those around her, it was no surprise Toni grew into a voracious reader.
She worked at her town library as a teenager and was an editor for a New York publisher as an adult. When it came time for her to write her own stories, she knew she wanted to write about her people--Black people. Early in the morning and late at night after her children were asleep, Toni began work on what would become an acclaimed and trailblazing body of work.
This luminous picture book has back matter with further reading on Toni Morrison's life and work.
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Publishers Weekly
"Long before Chloe became a writer or a reader, she was a listener." Nolen chronicles the life and career of Toni Morrison (1931-2019), from her birth in Lorain, Ohio, as Chloe Ardelia Wofford to her 1993 acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Reportorial prose foregrounds the figure's family life and interests, describing Morrison's upbringing on a steady diet of music, mythology, scripture, and supernatural tales--influences that led to academia and an editorial career before she published The Bluest Eye, her first novel, at age 39. Describing Morrison's work as sharing "the untold stories that needed to be told" about "the history and pain of black life in the United States," Nolen writes, "Her story words were so mighty, / mighty enough to lift that old blanket of oppression/ and pull against each thread until that blanket just unraveled." Realistic watercolor and collage portraiture by Ransome depicts Morrison at various ages alongside relatives and figures past and present. It's an elucidative homage that ends with a call to action, inviting readers to tell their own stories. Extensive back matter includes an author's note, recommended reading and viewing, and "important quotes." Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Novelists, American
African American novelists
Morrison, Toni
