After including the price under each slave's picture, Bryan offers a final tally for the completed sale, humans, livestock, and goods: $3,476.05. The speakers' talents include carpentry, music, sewing, cooking, and more. In contrast to the dull initial portrait, the second set of pages for each slave appears in full color and shows the speaker fully immersed in a caring community. But on the following two pages, that same person explains what he or she dreams of doing with that talent. On the page adjacent to this illustration, the slave tells of the special skill he or she possesses that enriches the Fairchilds plantation. Accompanied by a free-verse first-person narrative, an illustration of each slave's portrait appears in a varied palette of warm browns against a backdrop of documents related to historical slave sales. Each of the 11 is given two double-page spreads to speak in. When Fairchilds dies, his British-born wife decides to sell off the slaves and move back to England.

About The Authorīryan gives voices to the voiceless and presents the dreams of slaves who went to the grave without living them.Using historical slave documents from the 1820s to the 1860s, Bryan brings to life 11 slaves who once belonged to Cado Fairchilds. Visually epic, and never before done, this stunning picture book is unlike anything you’ve seen. Through fierce paintings and expansive poetry, he imagines and interprets each person’s life on the plantation, as well as the life their owner knew nothing about-their dreams and pride in knowing that they were worth far more than an overseer or madam ever would guess.

Inspired by the actual will of a plantation owner that lists the worth of each and every one of his “workers,” the author has created collages around that document, and others like it. This gentle yet deeply powerful way goes to the heart of how a slave is given a monetary value by the slave owner, tempering this with the one thing that can’t be bought or sold: dreams.

Imagine being looked up and down and being valued as less than chair. Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts the monetary value of a person with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never take away. Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book

Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan