16. I liked the book “Sweet Potato Pie” by Kathleen D. Lindsey for several reasons. I really liked that the illustrator chose to cover entire pages with painted pictures and that she used dramatic lines to show the movement and expressions of the characters. Another quality I liked about this book was that the writing incorporated several uses of onomatopoeia, such as “BAM!” and “Mooooo.” In my opinion this gave life to the writing and would create an engaging experience for readers. More importantly, I liked that the author demonstrated to readers that through hard work, anything is possible. Because the family worked together to stay up making sweet potato pies for the town festival, they were able to make enough money to pay off their debt and save their family barn. The main message of this story is to always have hope during difficult times and that determination and teamwork are important to value in order to have a chance of overcoming financial difficulties. ( )

A close up story of a family working together in the face of adversity. There is an historical aspect of this as well for use in the classroom. The painting illustrations are full of movement and colorful energy. A great book for the classroom discussion. ( )

In Sweet Potato Pie, an African American family has to come up with a way to save their farm/ home from being repossessed by the bank. They choose to make sweet potato pies to raise money and sell at the Harvest Festival so that they may achieve their goal and share a family tradition with the town.
This is a book that serves more to celebrate the values and diversity of a culture. I think that Kathleen Lindsey and Charlotte Riley-Webb have done a great job at creating and illustrating a story that expressively depicts an African American family and allowing the reader to empathize with a communal sense which is emphasized. As an artist, I have seen many artworks which exaggerate the Black and/or African identity. I think that Both Lindsey's and Webb's sensitivity and desire to share such a story is not only a positive depiction of the culture, but also one that truly seems to transcend the need to identify/label the figures in the story. This, is a huge strength for me as a reader because it does not make it so that culture and race is the main focus or narrow lens with which to read the book. For children, I think that this is a great asset and format of literature to have because while it acknowledges that specific group, it also doesn't make it so that they are solely valued for their contribution to the diversity of society.

I thought that this book was so fun. There was even a recipe in the back of the book for sweet potato pie. I would use this book in the classroom because it is such a good way of showing culture and in addition to culture the foods of different cultures. The pictures were so fun and they did a great job depicting culture.