Freedom in Congo Square

Winner of a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2016
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2016: Nonfiction
Starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and The Horn Book Magazine
A Junior Library Guild Selection

This poetic, nonfiction story about a little-known piece of African American history captures a human's capacity to find hope and joy in difficult circumstances and demonstrates how New Orleans' Congo Square was truly freedom's heart.

Mondays, there were hogs to slop,

mules to train, and logs to chop.

Slavery was no ways fair.

Six more days to Congo Square.

As slaves relentlessly toiled in an unjust system in 19th century Louisiana, they all counted down the days until Sunday, when at least for half a day they were briefly able to congregate in Congo Square in New Orleans. Here they were free to set up an open market, sing, dance, and play music. They were free to forget their cares, their struggles, and their oppression. This story chronicles slaves' duties each day, from chopping logs on Mondays to baking bread on Wednesdays to plucking hens on Saturday, and builds to the freedom of Sundays and the special experience of an afternoon spent in Congo Square. This book includes a forward from Freddi Williams Evans (freddievans.com), a historian and Congo Square expert, as well as a glossary of terms with pronunciations and definitions.

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Published: 01/05/2016
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 11.00h x 8.80w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781499801033
Audience: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.4
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 179189 / Freedom in Congo Square


Award: Coretta Scott King Award - Honor Book
Award: Caldecott Medal - Honor Book


Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 10/01/2015 pg. 130
Publishers Weekly 10/05/2015
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2015
Booklist 11/15/2015 pg. 40
Shelf Awareness 02/05/2016
Horn Book Magazine 05/01/2016 pg. 93
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2016 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style
School Library Journal 12/01/2016 pg. 41

About the Author
Carole Boston Weatherford is an award-winning nonfiction children's book author. Her books have received numerous accolades, including a Caldecott Honor for Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom and a Coretta Scott King Award Honor for Becoming Billie Holiday, as well as the NAACP's Image Award. She is currently a professor and Director of Professional Writing at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. You can find more about Carole at cbweatherford.com.

R. Gregory Christie is a three-time recipient of a Coretta Scott King Award Honor for illustration (Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan; Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth; The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children), a two-time winner of the New York Times' 1 Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year (in 2 for Only Passing Through and in 22 for Stars in the Darkness), a honor winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for illustration (Jazz Baby), and a recipient of the NAACP's Image Award. He operates GAS-ART GIFTS, a children's bookstore with autographed copies in Decatur, Georgia. You can find more about Greg online at gas-art.com.