Loretta Little Looks Back
By Andrea Davis Pinkney, Brian Pinkney (Visual Art)
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Release date: September 22nd, 2020
Genre: Middle Grade, Historical
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From a bestselling and award-winning husband and wife team comes an innovative, beautifully illustrated novel that delivers a front-row seat to the groundbreaking moments in history that led to African Americans earning the right to vote.
“Right here, I’m sharing the honest-to-goodness.” — Loretta
“I’m gon’ reach back, and tell how it all went. I’m gon’ speak on it. My way.” — Roly
“I got more nerve than a bad tooth. But there’s nothing bad about being bold.” — Aggie B.
Loretta, Roly, and Aggie B., members of the Little family, each present the vivid story of their young lives, spanning three generations. Their separate stories — beginning in a cotton field in 1927 and ending at the presidential election of 1968 — come together to create one unforgettable journey.
Through an evocative mix of fictional first-person narratives, spoken-word poems, folk myths, gospel rhythms and blues influences, Loretta Little Looks Back weaves an immersive tapestry that illuminates the dignity of sharecroppers in the rural South. Inspired by storytelling’s oral tradition, stirring vignettes are presented in a series of theatrical monologues that paint a gripping, multidimensional portrait of America’s struggle for civil rights as seen through the eyes of the children who lived it. The novel’s unique format invites us to walk in their shoes. Each encounters an unexpected mystical gift, passed down from one family member to the next, that ignites their experience what it means to reach for freedom.
Both my grandparents on my mother’s side grew up as sharecroppers until they moved up North for a life in the city. They often spoke of the good parts of their childhood to me, the fresh fruit and vegetables always available to them, and the time they spent enjoying the outdoors. My mother would fill me in on the difficult parts of their childhood, parts that included horrible discrimination, lack of educational opportunity, poverty, sickness, and family difficulties. When I saw that a tour for this book was being offered, I knew I wanted to read it. I wanted to read about what other families during this time were going through, hoping to be able to learn more about the time period they grew up in. Loretta Little Looks Back tells the story of this version of the South through the eyes of three different people.
Loretta’s story was the first one told, and I believe was one of the hardest to read. She had a lot going for her, but between illness and the repercussions of the poisonous pesticides being sprayed in the field, nearly everything was taken from her. Her life wasn’t over, but she had extra struggles to deal with as she continued to live on the farm. She also had the responsibility of taking care of young Roly as the youngest sister who wasn’t able to find much other work outside the fields/garden. I felt the despair that her character felt as her own body betrayed her, and wondered how many others had stories just like hers.
Roly never had a mother and was found in one of the fields one night by Loretta and her sisters. His story is one of trying to find a family and trying to figure out the world around him. His connection with the Earth and the outdoors was amazing to read and lead to some of my favorite parts of the whole story. But his story was also one of loss, as black families in the Jim Crow South were never allowed to have even thought of being able to get out of the sharecropping relationship without being brought back down.
Aggie’s story was the most recent and included a lot of information about the Civil Rights movement. Aggie is Roly’s child, and she grows up also without a mother. But her father never leaves her and wants to protect her as much as possible. But Aggie wants better for her and her family in Mississippi. She wants them to be protected and to be able to vote so they don’t have to constantly live in poverty. I think that Aggie was my favorite character, as she was so strong and determined. The other characters had pieces that I liked, but Aggie was the one that seemed the most relatable to me. Maybe because I am used to the modern Black American life, the life that people like Aggie helped create for my generation.
This book flows so smoothly from one chapter to the next, I couldn’t stop reading it once I started. I finished the book in 2 nights, keeping me up a bit longer than I had planned for in trying to finish the novel. The mixture of poetry and songs within the chapter kept me hooked and drew me into the world of the characters even more. I can’t wait to read another book by this author, this one was a beautiful read.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a historical fiction novel to read.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Overall Rating: 6 out of 5 books.
10 Thoughts While Reading
- Basic respect should be given to all people, especially neighbors/those you work with. I wonder how many black men in the South struggled with their mental health after being disrespected 24/7.
- Jealousy equals hatred, and it can truly poison a community.
- I didn’t even think about how modern chronic illnesses would affect those in times before us. I understood that surgery was less advanced and some diseases weren’t eradicated. But I never thought about how chronic illnesses that we still don’t have a handle on would be handled with even less medical knowledge years ago.
- I wonder how many people my grandparents knew were NightDeep children? I wonder what happened to the mothers of those children.
- The church was such a staple in these Southern communities, no wonder it was the center of the Civil Rights movement. It was the source of comfort in these beaten and broken communities.
- Roly has such a connection with nature, maybe he would have had the chance to really work with animals if he had the money.
- The city meant opportunity for black people, but discrimination flowed everywhere. It may not have been as blatant as in the South, but it was definitely there.
- Even dreaming of a better future was a lot for people so oppressed as these sharecroppers.
- Voting was something that could be punished by “mob justice” in the South, but Aggie wasn’t going to allow this to stop her from her dreams. She wasn’t even old enough to vote! Amazing
- I wonder if the polling places discriminating against black people were ever punished. I doubt it. It would be interesting to see if any of those places are still used as polling booths today and if they participate in modern versions of poll taxes and tests with IDs and other paperwork mishandling.
Author information
Andrea Davis Pinkney is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of nearly 50 books for young readers, among them The Red Pencil and A Poem for Peter, as well as several collaborations with her husband Brian Pinkney, including Sit -In and Hand in Hand, which received the Coretta Scott King Book Award.
Brian Pinkney has illustrated numerous books for children, including two Caldecott Honor books, and he has written and illustrated several of his own books. Brian has received the Coretta Scott King Book Award for Illustration and three Coretta Scott King Book Award Honor medals.
The Pinkneys have been named among the “25 Most Influential People in Our Children’s Lives” by Children’s Health magazine. They live in Brooklyn, New York.