Never Forgotten by Patricia C. McKissack and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon (Schwartz & Wade, 2011) tells the African tradition of the slave trade through rhythmic verse and using the Mother Elements that African tales focus on: Earth, Fire, Water, Wind. A young boy in eighteenth-century Africa is training to be a blacksmith like his father when he is captured by slave traders and taken to America. His father and those in Africa who miss him seek help from the elements in finding out where he went.
I personally loved the perspective from the African traditions, for American history does not often consider the African side of the horror of the slave trade. The Dillon’s illustrations match the tone of the poetic text wonderfully, and I loved the ultimate full circle effect of the wind discovering Musafa/Moses’ ultimate fate in America and how it comforts the forlorn father. Wonderfully rendered, this is an incredibly important folktale.
