Get Access Never Forgotten Imagined By Patricia C. McKissack Presented In EText

Grade level K and up, students studying slavery and black history,

Subject multicultural, black history, African storytelling and music

Appeal This is the story of what happened when the slaves were taken in Africa.
It is the story of Dinga and his son Musafa, Musafa was brought up by Dinga with the help of Earth, Fire, Wind and Water and was taken and sold into slavery, His father never stopped missing him and loving him, Mufasa grew to be a strong, wise man bcause he never forgot what his father had taught him, "Loved ones are never forgotten when we continue to tell their stories, " This is written lyrically to express the sounds of African poetry and music, This could be used as a lesson on family history or as a focus of black history month,

AwardsCoretta Scott King Author Award Probably the most provocative, deep book about the one African family's tragic experience with slavery that I've read, in picture book form. Rips apart any form of glossing over the kidnapping of people from their homes to serve the greed of America in that time period, The elements of nature played a role in seeking Mufasa after he had been taken, and the legend of the African blacksmiths and how they spoke to wind, fire, earth, and water takes us into the culture that comforted them and brought them news from far away.
Another must for middle grade classrooms, Excellent for literature circles. ACoretta Scott King Author Honor Book

"Forceful and iconic," raved Publishers Weekly in a starred review, This gorgeous picture book by Newbery Honor winner Patricia C, McKissack and twotime Caldecott Medalwinning husbandandwife team Leo and Diane Dillon is sure to become a treasured keepsake for African American families, Set in West Africa, this a lyrical storyinverse is about a young black boy who is kidnapped and sold into slavery, and his father who is left behind to mourn the loss of his son.
Here's a beautiful, powerful, truly unforgettable story about family, memory, and freedom, These poems were a gentle, hauntingly vivid first reading for some tender hearted boys who ache at the thought of Musafa's story, Upon narrating, they compared him to Telemachus who honored his father's memory long after others had given up, They especially latched onto the strength of the four Mother Elements, who reminded us of Athena, Both the prose amp illustration line work lit up their imaginations toward empathy well done! There are many books written about the slave trade out of Africa, but this one focused less on the young man that was taken away and instead on the effect this loss has on the father left behind in Africa.
An incredible book for children,  
This is a beautifully written story about one man's loss of his son to slavery, It shows the hurt, sorrow, and despair, Everyone should read it. Beautifully illustrated, this will tear at your heartstrings, and show you how important it is to never forget,
  McKissack emulates the chant of the griots before and after slavers kidnapped a young boy from a Mali village, She focuses on his father, a blacksmith, who according to tradition commands the four elements of earth, wind, water, and fire, and here uses them to try to find his beloved son.
It is the wind who finds the boy who was lost, and tells his people what has become of him, Rather too optimistic an ending, but if I were the wind, I'd have done the same, Moving, poetic, sometimes dense text, Powerful, emotional art by the Dillons acrylic and watercolor on Bristol board, Helpful author's note at the end, Be sure to read the Goodreads review by Elizabeth Bird she says it so much more eloquently than I can,

This was a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor book, and the creators have won many other awards as well, The Dillons twice won the Caldecott award: for Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears and Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions, Never Forgotten is a beautifully written and illustrated storyinverse about a blacksmith's son stolen in Africa and sold into slavery in the U, S. It's a perfect read to add to a slaverythemed book list for young readersrd grade and up, This beautifully crafted story written in verse is that of Dinga, a widowed blacksmith in West Africa that chooses to raise his son with the help of the Mother Elements: Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind rather than giving him to a woman in the tribe that was unable to bear her own children.
Dingas son, named Musafa is stolen and sold as a slave, brought to the Carolinas to become a blacksmiths apprentice, Musafas bravery and courage taught to him by his father and Mother Elements is what keeps Musafa strong and positive despite his given tragedy, The simple color palette and woodcut illustrations provide the reader with a magical visual connection to the text, Combining pieces of West African history, folktales, and legends, this text serves as a great addition to not only a poetry collection as its use of lyrical verse is exquisite, but is also serves well to discuss the themes of courage, bravery, and strong will.
Never Forgotten was awarded theCoretta Scott King Award as well as ALA's Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth in, I would use this text in an upper elementary or middle school classroom to discuss the literary and poetic elements, but also the historical components that are included as well.
I was immediately drawn to the stunning cover of this new work by Patricia C, McKissack, who has written or coauthored overbooks about the AfricanAmerican experience and has received countless awards for her work, In her newest work, she marries African folktales with historical fiction, telling in free verse the story of anth century West African boy raised by his blacksmith father and the Mother ElementsWind, Fire, Water, and Earth.
The boy, named Mufasa, disappears one day, like so many otherscaptured by the slave traders and taken by ship to a faraway land, Wind, Fire, Water and Earth try to save Mufasa, but none is powerful enough, Nonetheless, the wind finally brings Mufasa news that his son is still alive, and working as a blacksmith, although still a slave,

McKissack celebrates in this story "the son who was taken,/But never forgotten, She was inspired to write this tale by her curiosity about how African literature and music portrayed those ripped from their families by the slave trade, Clearly these individuals were mourned by their families, but she could not find any stories, dances, feasts or other stories about the "Taken," so she decided to write her own using elements of African folklore for her story.
The free verse allows McKissack to create a rhythm to her language that in certain passages is reminiscent of drums beating,

This moving tale of family members loved and lost is magnificently illustrated by the twotime Caldecott Medalwinning team of Leo and Diane Dillon, The illustrations were created in acrylic and watercolor on bristol board, and the artistic style clearly shows the influence of African art, I will not be at all surprised to see this book honored with many awards, particularly for its powerful illustrations, An inspiring meld of African folk literature and modern storytelling technique, Never Forgotten is stunning in equal measure for its emotionally involving plot and the evocative artwork that accompanies it of course, this is what one tends to expect from author Patricia C.
McKissack and illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon, So much of why this story hits home like it does is the flawless way in which text and artwork fit together to give a sweeping, unobscured vision of African culture and the joy that can emerge out of the sorrow of human experience.
Even as the heat of suffering began rising to agonizing levels with the arrival of American slave ships, come to capture the children of the Africans and send them across the ocean to a land where their parents would likely never see them again, the joy of the people's spirits refused to die, would not lie down and accept defeat even in a situation so bleak and seemingly hopeless.


Never Forgotten begins with the story of the great Mende blacksmith Dingal, greatly respected among his people but struck squarely one day by the death of his wife as she gives

birth to their only son, Musafa.
Though his contemporary culture says that it isn't a father's place to bring up a baby, that a widower should either find a new woman to marry or relinquish the orphaned child to a family with two parents, Dingal shakes off these expectations of his friends and neighbors, determining that he will care for his son on his own.
Brave, revered man that he is, Dingal straps the baby onto his back just as a woman would do and carries his precious cargo with no shame, going about his work as if it were the most natural thing in the world for a father to be carrying his child at all times.
The ties that bind Dingal and Musafa are those of necessity and love, and no social convention can ever be more enduring than such strong, instinctive ties as these.


Dingal isn't entirely on his own in bringing up Musafa, though, Where the strengths of a committed father end and the need for a mother begins, Dingal relies upon the four natural spirits of this worldEarth, Fire, Water and Windto help provide for Musafa, nurturing the child in comfort and quiet strength as he grows.
Musafa doesn't take to the work of the anvil the same way his father does, but the spirits soothe Dingal's concerns, telling him "One day his hammer will find a song".
Musafa has more in his future than simply following in his father's footsteps blacksmithing will play a part in his life, for sure, but there is a larger destiny into which Musafa has been made to fit, and even the evil storm that approaches cannot snuff out the future for which Musafa is headed.


Then the slave ships arrive, and the wailing voices of many join into one continental cry of bereavement as children are taken away forever, including the joy of Dingal's soul, Musafa.
Not even the wise spirits of Earth, Fire, Water and Wind can help bring back Musafa now, but as Dingal slowly begins to comprehend the horrifying reality that he probably won't ever come face to face with his beloved son again, there is still solace to be had in the words of the Wind, who finds her own way to give Dingal the gift of a contented spirit in the knowledge that Musafa may be a world away, but the wisdom and virtue that Dingal instilled in him as he grew up are ballast enough to keep him afloat wherever he goes.
Dingal will never stop missing Musafa, will never forget the son who was his wife's final and sweetest gift to him, but Musafa has become capable of standing on his own two feet and meeting the New World with all the courage and inner strength modeled to him throughout his youth by his father.


So often when we lose what's most important to us the foundational structure of our life quickly crumbles, and we come to realize that we never really had the strength to stand on our own.
Never Forgotten, though, is a story about quite the opposite effect, When the waves come crashing and the storm rocks the foundation of their life with a violence that most will never know, Dingal and Musafa, separated by the miles, each stands up straighter and prouder, never forgetting the strength to be found in the memories of those they love and what they taught them for the time that circumstances allowed them to be a part of each other's life.
Continuing to stand tall in the face of cruel loss doesn't have to mean forgetting the past in fact, remembering it can be the key to remaining upright even through the most stringent of trials, the most arduous of journeys either physical or metaphorical.
Because love never gives up, and knowing that there's someone out there who still loves you and cares about what's happening to you is a flame that not even the most blustery storm can extinguish.


Of all the outstanding artwork in this book, I think it's the rendering of the Fire spirit that I find most intriguing, The flaming strength of the spirit as it tries to ward off Musafa's kidnappers brings to exquisite life that part of the story, as the drawings do throughout the book.
The author and illustrators have really created something special in Never Forgotten, a book that I think could have been a legitimate contender for both the Newbery and Caldecott awards in.
I can hardly imagine any reader not liking this book, and I would give it at least two and a half, .