Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

Author: Faith Ringgold
Illustrator: Faith Ringgold
Genre: Multicultural, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction
Awards: CCBC Choices (1991), New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book (1991), Caldecott Honor (1992), A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (1992), Children's Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English - Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts (1992), Reading Rainbow Program Selection (1992), Ezra Jack Keats Book Award (1993), Parents' Choice Gold Award, NCTE Adventuring with Books (1993), NCTE Kaleidoscope (1994), NCTE Books That Invite Talk, Wonder, and Play (1996), 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up (2009)
Grade(s): K-6th

Summary: Tar Beach is a story of a girl whose family often goes to the roof of the building they live in to socialize with their neighbors. Cassie Louise Lightfoot is a little girl who loved to visit that rooftop with her family. She loved it so much because she would close her eyes and dream of flying above the city, making everything she flew over her own. Her favorite place to dream of flying over was the George Washington Bridge. She would imagine flying over places that would help her family out of their troubles. As an African American family, they were treated poorly and definitely not paid equally. However, Cassie would escape these setbacks by visiting "tar beach" and dreaming of taking her family's troubles away. She dreamed of flying over a large office building because she knew that if she owned it, her father would be able to work there instead of being turned away due to his color. She also flew over the ice cream factory to ensure her and her little brother would always have ice cream for dinner. At the end of the book, Cassie teaches her little brother to "fly" and the two of them laid and dreamt on Tar Beach for the rest of the night. This book is based off of a real story that the author had written on the border of a quilt describing her own rough childhood. Each page is bordered with a real picture of the author's quilt and the last page depicts the author's entire quilt, including the written story.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed reading this book as I felt that it really showed the way of life for African Americans during an older time. This book is culturally rich and I feel that it would be a great book to use in my classroom to teach about other cultures. I feel that the story really brought to life the way it is to live a poor lifestyle in a city. I loved how the author made me realize that the imagination is a powerful thing and can take you out of any undesirable situation. I also loved the illustrations in this book and the fact that the author shared such a personal story along with a real image of the quilt that inspired this story. I will definitely have this book in my library!!