Tom FeelingsRecensioni

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DAYDREAMERS offers beautiful paintings and drawings paired with sweet memorable poetry

It goes without saying that the slaves weren’t seen as equals, or as having any rights at all—look through the book if you want to know what ‘at all’ means—or even as being fully human, but really I would go so far as to say that you shouldn’t treat horses like this. I mean it. Horses.

After all a slave isn’t an ordinary worker. The whites looked at the Blacks like they were a bit like horses, sure, but they weren’t the sort of horses that you liked or even managed rationally. They treated them like they were /bad/, like they were part-demon. I feel a little unhesitant to even put this theory into words, that the Blacks were seen as half-horse, half-demon—and aside from the introductions there are no words in the book, no language—because I think it’s easy for that to continue. Some Black guy makes it onto the news—well of course, he’s half-horse, half-demon. The slave trader is not Economic Man, you know, not rational. It’s not the sort of book a Scottish economist would read by the fire.

I actually don’t think you should even treat a demon like this, and I think that the argument is pretty sound, too. (You don’t try to.... merge.... with a demon, right.)

Things did get better for Black people, though: sometimes during American slavery they were treated like horses that you could like, and even the KKK says that you shouldn’t try to.... merge.... with them, because after all they’re demons!

.... Anyway, I don’t mean to wail on the Indian (South Asian) way of looking at the world and the question of evil, but looking at the rats gnawing on the dead bodies makes me think there is something to the Jewish idea of tsimtsum (divine contraction), that we are permitted to do things that are not the divine will, the I guess Arminian thing where sin and such exist because we are given the freedom to choose. Of course, maybe that’s too much name dropping, and clearly we’re still left with the stark and even disgusting, revolting nature of evil.... I just feel like we could do so much better, you know, not that we’ve accumulated such a great track record so far, right.

.........................

Re: India vs Tsimtsum

So Alan Watts gave this great talk once about how he or somebody was in World War Two and they had this spiritual experience where everything was well with the world, regardless of whether the bombs fell on their house or not. It’s a beautiful thought, but I’m not sure you’d get the same feel if the suffering was not just filled with dread but ugliness, and disgustingness—if you’re a prisoner on a slave ship and rats are munching on your neighbors, (as well as strangers from other tribes), what do you do with that? Do you get to the awful but beautiful dread of God from there?

The thing about the divine contraction is that it could be the devil with delegated powers to run the show for now, and God is just taking notes to see how people react when they’re not afraid of him—when he’s not around, when people are afraid of everybody else except him.

One artist, multiple poets. Illustrated well for each different poet and poem. Theme of pride and being proud of your heritage, who you are, and where you're going. Black lives matter.

This book is breath-taking in visual scope and presentation! With the power of a silent movie, it conveys the brutality and unfortunate circumstances Africans endured using a limited, bur richly-textured palette of colors/tones. The ghostly, ethereal depictions of their captors hauntingly communicates their ghastly practices. The lyrical sweep of the images creates words and ideas more effectively communicated than words could articulate. A must read/see which offers much material for pondering/reflection.

While reading this I could only imagine the emotional response from someone who is more passionate about this subject than me. It has a huge amount of detailed written and even more detailed paintings. It truly gives you a terrifying view into the past and what the experience was like for those Africans who were stolen from their land. Due to its vivid and descriptive nature I can see why people wouldn't want to read this, but I think it is almost necessary to fully understand slavery.

In Tom Feelings' introduction, he says "I began to see how important the telling of this particular story could be for Africans all over this world, many who consciously or unconsciously share this 'race memory,' this painful experience of the Middle Passage." The book was published in 1995, long before scientific acknowledgement of and inquiry into epigenetics. I would love to know how current knowledge of epigenetics might have influenced this book and how it currently affects the interpretation of the effects of the Middle Passage.

I am completely and utterly taken aback and the beauty and simple brilliance that this book has to offer. The story line and the illustrations intertwine in the most elegant of ways. The illustrations can be used in so many ways and I can appreciate deeply how this book is an ode to black beauty and culture and bringing to light the history of black relevance in this world

I thought this book was very interesting, for a few reasons. To begin with, the text was very abstract. In every line of the poem, the author refers back to one person as, “you”. The real identity of that person is never revealed, and it is left up to the reader’s interpretation. For example, “everywhere I turn I see you there, in the flat wetlands and on windswept coasts.” The constant use of the pronoun “you” makes the reader think that the author might be talking about one specific person, but really, he is not. The author uses “you” to refer to all people of color. Another thing I found to be interesting (not bad, or good), was the simplicity of the illustrations. They are all portraits drawn with a pencil, and they look as if they are just sketches. I liked this because it added a solemn feeling to the story. Had there been colorful images everywhere, it would have contradicted the emotion of the text. Additionally, in every portrait, the person in making a straight face. There are no smiles or faces filled with joy—I also thought that was interesting. The main message of this book is, from the mountains in South America, or the fields of Louisiana to the deserts of Africa, people of color have the same great heritage, and you can always see yourself in one another.

This books is made up of a series of comics about famous (but often forgotten) figures from black history. This is a very accessible way to share these stories with older elementary students.

There are various reasons as to why I like this book. “I Saw Your Face” word choice wise is a book for children who are in first grade, but the meaning of the book is more comprehendable for those who are in the third or fourth grade. The main message of this story is that though there are African-Americans of various cultures from all around the world, their origin is still African. Realizing that there is a shared beauty and a shared heritage. The quote in this book that best shows the main message of this book is, “Don't care where you come from, as long as you're a black man, you're an African.” The poetic content in this book also captivated me because it enhanced the big idea of the story. The story would describe African-Americans all around the world. For example, one page describes an African-American girl from Benin and Ghana. Then it would go on to how she saw those same eyes in Kingston under a cocoa tree. The book also includes Louisiana and London. An example of the author's beautiful poetry that concludes the book beautifully is, “I see your face look back at me, Full of ancient stories and dreams, That tell me we have traveled far, And survived the journeys well.”½

“Daydreamers” is a wonderful book that shows the growth of children’s daydreams. The illustrations to go along with the words are perfect for the poem because the poem is so simplistic that the pictures have to be just as simple. If the pictures are to complex then they no longer match the author’s words. The author is in a way describing the process of daydreaming. On one of the pages the author states, “for this moment the bodies are still.” This is so true when it comes to the simple task of daydreaming, daydreams will lead to adulthood. The author does a wonderful job of capturing the inner feelings of children.

I would read this book to kids to open discussions about capitalism, greed, and human captivity.

My daughter's history text recommended The Middle Passage but suggested parents preview it. I'm glad I did. It's a beautiful and heart-wrenching book, but my 7.5-year-old is not ready for the rawness and brutality depicted here, and I'm not ready for her to see it. I want her to know the story, but not so much so soon.

According to the text that precedes the illustrations, this book took the author/illustrator 20 years to complete. I can see why. Each picture holds so much emotion and so much history.

In his preface, Feelings explains why he chose to tell the story only in illustrations. One reason he gives is the limitations and inherent bias in the English language. "It is a language so infused with direct and indirect racism that it would be difficult, if not impossible, using this language in my book, to project anything black as positive."

I think he went the right path telling the story with pictures rather than words. It's a story I've heard over and over again, but it is difficult to conceptualize the dehumanization that happens to both the enslaved and those enslaving them when I'm just reading the words.

That said, John Henrik Clarke's introduction added a dimension to the book that I would have missed had I only looked at the illustrations. In particular, I was struck by his description of the cultural differences between the people of West Africa and the Europeans. "The European temperament," he writes, "was shaped by a thousand-year-old feudal system, which was a form of slavery...Europe was just emerging from the Middle Ages, a time when poverty and disease were rampant, 'an age haunted by death and damnation.' The Africans had never dealt with such a fiercely competitive people, a people set on asserting its dominance at any cost."

This book gives people in the United States another opportunity to look into our country's dark history. By facing this past rather than avoiding it, hopefully we can help shape a future that allows each of us to be our best selves rather than being trapped in a tradition of dominance and subordination.

This book tells the painful African experience of slaves being captured and shipped to the Americas through the use of art alone. The author, Tom Feelings, includes in the forward an explanation of how he came to create this body of work and why. Based off the stories of those who traveled what was called the 'middle passage', the path of the triangular trade route that went from Africa to the Americas, Feelings tries to convey that pain through black and white paintings alone, each image depicting a different scene of the horrific and at times brutal African journey. Feelings chose to use his art alone to convey the emotions because he felt words alone could not encompass them all. His images are hauntingly beautiful with their dramatic balance of light and dark. I can only imagine the profound effect they would have to see them in person.
This is a book that would need to be used with a much older audience because of its brutally honest content. I do not think it would be suitable for use with students below the eighth grade level and I would probably span a lesson using this book over a longer period of time as to not overwhelm them all at once. I might also choose a select few paintings to look at more in

The Middle Passage is a true picture book that tells the story of Africans being transported to America during the diaspora. The story is told through art and vividly describes the account. I would recommend this to a more mature group of individuals.

A very moving account of the Middle Passage. This book is pictures only. The pictures are drawn in black, white, grey, and charcoal. Each picture contains such moving details about the experience of those Africans who were stolen from their homelands.

Retelling: The character Tommie traveler is an enthusiastic student of African American history who's imagination takes him back in time to explore pivotal moments in the lives of Phoebe Fraunces, emmet Till, Aesop, Frederick Douglass, Crispus Attucks, and Joe Louis.

Thoughts and Feelings: My favorite comic strip in this book was the one about Aesop. I love how he uses his fables to gently put ideas into people's mind and convince them to do the right thing. The author did an excellent job of bringing his legend to life.

The story was okay. Really, I was more captivated by the art then the poem. Reading the back cover of the book seemed to tie it all together for me.

Age: Primary

This book is a good example of poetry. It is written in rhythmic verse, with each word chosen for a specific purpose. The words and illustrations in this book combine to speak a powerful message about the magic of daydreams and the children who partake in them.

Tom Feelings' The Middle Passage tells the story of African men, women, and children who were taken from their homes and put on a ship, in order to be sold as slaves in America. Feelings makes a decision to tell this story through art, recognizing that racism is a part of the language of the Western World. Making use of pen and ink and tempera on rice paper, Feelings shows the brutal treatment of the Africans, as they were forced to journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

This powerful picture book can be used in a secondary classroom. Feelings' illustrations are bound to impact students in different ways than reading about this topic in their history books. Recently, I worked with a secondary teacher who shared this book with a small group in order to work on inference. Feelings' provocative illustrations led students to question and encouraged the students to engage in a meaningful discussion about the way minorities have been treated in America. In addition to the story Feelings tells through his artwork, this book includes a map that shows African Diaspora in Americas, which can also serve as a teaching tool.

In my opinion, Feelings book stands on it’s own. Most likely, I would not pair this piece with a typical school activity. Rather, I would allow my students to experience it and reflect on it in an authentic way. In addition to providing the students with a piece of history in which they may not have envisioned, Feelings demonstrates how a story can be told through many mediums.

Soul Look Back in Wonder is a juvenile book of poetry that is written by a variety of African American authors. The poems, like the authors, are varied in context and style. The majority however, have to deal with a hope for a better life and a connection to Earth/Africa. In the poem, To You by Langston Hughes the author writes about the hope and dreams of a new world and the wish for all people to come together. This depicts the hope that African-Americans will be considered part of the greater context of American society and considered equals. In Africa You Are Beautiful by Rashidah Ismaili, the author depicts, Africa as a place that she is still connected to and can never be separated from. The poem also describes Africa as a beautiful and bountiful land. Portraying Africa as a beautiful land instills pride in being African and in essence gives African-Americans pride in being black.
This book could be used in a juvenile reading club as a way to instill pride in the heritage of the African-American people through poetry that can be analyzed and combined with other poems written by authors of other origins. This book along with others can be combined to teach cultural awareness and pride.

“Daydreamers” written by Tom Feelings and Eloise Greenfield is an interesting and unique story, with a high use of action verbs. This story describes daydreamers and visually depicts what different daydreamers look like. The story states: “while their dreams hopscotch, doubledutch, dance, thoughts rollerskate, crisscross, bump into hopes and wishes;” the preceding sentence describe how active daydreamer’s imaginations can be. This story suggests that many great ideas are a result of daydreaming. This story is best suited for Kindergarten to third grade students.

I like it, but my nieces (6 and 4) don't. I suspect that it's too grown-up for them. Read it before you buy it.½

Tom Feelings builds on the African tradition of oral storytelling by revealing the horrors of the Middle Passage via visual storytelling: ink and tempera paintings which recreate the terror of the torturous voyages with brutal beauty. Known as an illustrator of children’s books, Feelings’ visual journey into the disturbing history of African enslavement is more appropriate for mature children, young adults, and adults. The Middle Passage is an excellent reference for African American history that should be part of every school library’s collection.½