Sticky Subjects in Tar Beach

Reading List
Written By Rebecca Grabill

Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. Crown, 1991.

A bold opening paired with dramatic illustrations.

Poverty without self-pity.

The story opens with a dream, immediately pulling the child in via fantasy. It is true to her life, but seen as she would see it, without self-awareness. The quilts and fantasy are used to deal with the heroine’s difficult emotions (she is a true heroine) and to give her beauty and hope. Startlingly real, honest, lovely.

This book is a model for handling difficult topics like race, poverty for the very young. There's no preaching, only relationship. Story builds connections; books like this give me hope for the future.

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Rebecca Grabill

Rebecca has been writing since childhood, her first book about a kitten published between homemade cardboard covers in second grade. Although she studied religion and philosophy in university, she continued writing, earning an MFA from Hamline University and publishing multiple picture books (no longer with homemade covers) and a collection of poetry with a variety of New York and independent publishers. She has also published a wide array of fiction, essays, and poetry in magazines and journals and photographs for Getty Images. She balances writing with homeschooling the younger of her six children, launching her young adults, church activities, and overseeing a small flock of chickens in rural West Michigan.

www.rebeccagrabill.com
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