The Great Migration - Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist

In this haunting collection of poems, Eloise Greenfield gives us a glimpse of The Great Migration: Journey to the North (Amistad, $16.99). Influenced by the poet’s own childhood, the collection explores the thoughts and emotions of African Americans as they sought to escape the hardships of the South by migrating north. Though some people find the idea of leaving their lives and land behind bittersweet, one compelling poem tells of a woman who is eager to leave: “Goodbye town. Goodbye,/ work all day for almost no pay,/ enemy cotton fields, trying/ to break my back, my spirit.” Jan Spivey Gilchrist’s evocative illustrations are the perfect complement to Greenfield’s candid poems. Ages 6-10. KLP