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Preaching to the Chickens
  • Published: 1 November 2016
  • ISBN: 9780399168567
  • Imprint: Nancy Paulsen Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $35.00

Preaching to the Chickens

The Story of Young John Lewis

Formats & editions
EBook
11 Oct 2016
Hardback
1 Nov 2016
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Critically acclaimed author Jabari Asim and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis team up to give readers a fascinating glimpse into the boyhood of Civil Rights leader John Lewis.

A New York Times Best Illustrated Book

Critically acclaimed author Jabari Asim and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis give readers a fascinating glimpse into the boyhood of Civil Rights leader John Lewis.
 
John wants to be a preacher when he grows up—a leader whose words stir hearts to change, minds to think, and bodies to take action. But why wait? When John is put in charge of the family farm’s flock of chickens, he discovers that they make a wonderful congregation! So he preaches to his flock, and they listen, content under his watchful care, riveted by the rhythm of his voice.
 
Celebrating ingenuity and dreaming big, this inspirational story, featuring Jabari Asim’s stirring prose and E. B. Lewis’s stunning, light-filled impressionistic watercolor paintings, includes an author’s note about John Lewis, who grew up to be a member of the Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and demonstrator on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. John Lewis is now a Georgia congressman, who is still an activist today, recently holding a sit-in on the House floor of the U.S. Capitol to try to force a vote on gun violence. His March: Book Three recently won the National Book Award, as well as the American Library Association's Coretta Scott King Author Award, Printz Award, and Sibert Award.
  • Published: 1 November 2016
  • ISBN: 9780399168567
  • Imprint: Nancy Paulsen Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $35.00
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About the authors

E. B Lewis

The recipient of a Caldecott Honor and an Orbis Pictus Award, along with many others, E. B. Lewis is the illustrator of more than seventy books for children. His Calkins Creek titles include Invincible by Wade Hudson, Seeking Freedom by Selene Castrovilla, and Lizzie Demands a Seat by Beth Anderson, which won Bank Street College of Education's Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for excellence in nonfiction, along with many other honors. He is also the illustrator of Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem, also by Gary Golio. Visit eblewis.com for more information. Earl Bradley Lewis was born on December 16, 1956, in Philadelphia, PA. As early as the third grade he displayed artistic promise. Inspired by two uncles, who where artists, Lewis decided he wanted to follow in their footsteps.

After finishing the sixth grade, he attended the Saturday morning Temple University School Art League run by his uncle. Under the tutelage of Clarence Wood, a noted painter in Philadelphia, Lewis began his formal art training. He remained in the program until his enrollment in the Temple University Tyler School of Art in 1975.

During his four years at Temple, Lewis majored in Graphic Design and Illustration, along with Art Education. There he discovered his medium of preference, watercolor.

Upon graduation in 1979, Lewis went directly into teaching, along with freelancing in Graphic Design. Between 1985 and 1986 he had completed a body of work which was exhibited in a downtown Philadelphia gallery. The show sold out and bought him public recognition and critical acclaim. Within two years his work was exhibited at the prestigious Rosenfeld Gallery in Philadelphia, where his shows continue to sell out.

Lewis' work is now part of major private collections and is displayed in galleries throughout the United States. Honoring Lewis, Barbara Bader's History on American Picture books will be including a description of Earl and his achievements as an artist. Currently, Earl Lewis is teaching illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is a member of The Society of Illustrators in New York City.

E. B. Lewis is the illustrator of two Coretta Scott King Honor Books, Rows and Piles of Coins and Bat Boy and his Violin. He lives in New Jersey.

portrait photo of E. B Lewis

Praise for Preaching to the Chickens

Praise for Jabari Asim's Fifty Cents and a Dream
     * "Asim's lyrical text transforms the journey into a spiritual awakening for a young man who had 'a dream in his soul.' . . . An outstanding achievement and a life worthy of note."--Kirkus STAR
     * "An inspirational life, memorably presented."--SLJ STAR
     * "Asim's lyrical narrative is succinct yet illustrative . . . makes an impressive addition to any biography collection."--PW STAR
     "Remarkable . . . told with poetic and soulful candor."--New York Times Book Review

Praise for E. B. Lewis's illustrations in Each Kindness (by Jacqueline Woodson)
     * "Combining realism with shimmering impressionistic washes of color, Lewis turns readers into witnesses as kindness hangs in the balance in the cafeteria, the classroom, and on the sun-bleached playground asphalt; readers see how the most mundane settings can become tense testing grounds for character."--PW STAR
     * "Gentle but detailed watercolor paintings of a diverse rural classroom. . . . Illustrations of children's facial expressions from surprising angles, expansive countryside views, and pools of water and windows, which invite readers to pause, reflect, and empathize."--SLJ STAR
     "Lewis embraces the effects of light like an Impressionist, while his creative, often cinematic uses of point of view add resonance to the story."--BCCB
     "Lewis dazzles with frame-worthy illustrations, masterful use of light guiding readers' emotional responses."--Kirkus