Book Review: DAVE THE POTTER: ARTIST, POET, SLAVE by Laban Carrick Hill. Illustrated by Bryan Collier

Book Review Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill. Illustrated by Bryan Collier

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hill, Laban Carrick and Bryan Collier. Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave. New York: Little, Brown, 2010. ISBN: 031610731X

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave chronicles both the life of a pot and the life of a man. Through illustrations as earthy as the clay itself, and words that are rich with imagery, the story of Dave, a slave and a gifted potter, emerge at the same time the pot on his wheel grows. Each picture makes you feel as the clay is caked on your hands and under your nails, while helping you understand the great talent and skill it took to make such amazing pottery.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Dave was a slave in South Carolina during the days of huge plantations and no hope of freedom. However, his gift working with clay pulled him from the fields into the potter’s house where he became so skilled at making earthenware that he could make pots large enough to hold twenty gallons or more. That, as unique as it was, is not what made Dave fascinating. Rather, the poetic inscriptions Dave engraved on some of his jars and pots hold us entranced. Where did he learn to write in a time when slaves were generally forbidden? Why did he only pen verses on some of his pots? And what did his messages mean? All of this is unfolded in the story of Dave, the potter, artist, poet, and slave.

Laban Carrick Hill’s story is artfully woven around the growing pot on Dave’s wheel. “Mounded mud” and “clotted clumps of clay” are examples of alliteration Hill uses to bring to life the story of Dave and his pot. Hill’s use of simile is equally artful: “like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat” and “as fast as a carnival’s wheel of fortune” are two examples. Throughout the story, the spellbinding use of language keeps the reader entwined in the story’s threads.

Bryan Collier is also a master of his trade. The illustrations in Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave masterfully blend the text with a variety of mediums to give birth to Dave’s pot.  The collages and watercolors are so artfully done as to show the reader both what it is like to be a potter and create, from a mound of mud, a beautiful piece of art. They also serve to give the reader glimpses of life around Dave. Slaves moving clay, horses tethered to a rail, wood chopped and waiting to be burned, and farmland being planted all help depict what was going on around Dave, even as he worked the clay at his wheel. The illustrations alone tell a masterful story.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2011 Caldecott Honor
2011 Coretta Scott King Gold Award for Illustrations

Starred Review, School Library Journal: “An inspiring story, perfectly presented....Outstanding in every way.”

BOOKLIST: The book’s quiet dignity comes from its refusal to scrutinize life as a slave; instead, it is nearly a procedural, following Dave’s mixing, kneading, spinning, shaping, and glazing. Collier’s gorgeous watercolor-and-collage illustrations recall the work of E. B. Lewis—earth-toned, infused with pride, and always catching his subjects in the most telling of poses. A beautiful introduction to a great lost artist.”

5. CONNECTIONS

*This book could be used as an introduction to the history of pottery. It would also work well as an introduction to slavery and the different jobs slaves performed. It would further serve as an opening to discussion of life on a plantation and what skills were needed to keep a plantation running well.  

*Other books about slavery for children:

Johnson, Pamela and Kamma, Anne. IF YOU LIVED WHEN THERE WAS SLAVERY IN AMERICA. ISBN: 0439567068

Nelson, Kadir. HEART AND SOUL: THE STORY OF AMERICA AND AFRICAN AMERICANS. ISBN: 0061730742