Ellen's Broom (Coretta Scott King Honor - Illustrator Honor Title)

Good early childhood reading - rare multi-cultural themes

This story takes place in the reconstruction period after slavery had been abolished. Before this time Ellen’s parents were not allowed to marry, and so they like many others participated in ceremony where they jumped over the broom together into marriage. I really enjoyed this book and it would be a perfect pairing for teaching kids about this time period in American history. Even though the illustrations for this book were honored, I think the story itself is wonderful too. I think an appropriate age range for this book would be 5-7 years old.

African American couples still jump the broom at their wedding ceremonies today. I'm sure young people wonder about it and reading Ellen's Broom is a great way to introduce the tradition to them. It is a very warm and loving story that can open up a lot of conversation among children and parents. Her author's note gives an important look into Lyons' motivation and research. I highly  Ellen's Broom recommend it!

I was really charmed by this antebellum story telling about the complex history of "jumping the broom" at African-American weddings. Ellen's parents are eager to put the past behind them when they are finally able to legally wed at a courthouse after slavery has ended. Ellen reclaims and transforms the tradition into something positive, by decorating the family broom with flowers. The book is illustrated with beautiful full-color linoleum woodcuts.

My daughter has read the story many, many times... and shared it with others. She takes it to poetry class, church and to family's houses so they can see her new book. The illustrations beautifully marry the text and characters to one another. Freedom begets freedom... and Ellen's Broom is a wonderful illustration of that!

A unique and moving story of a young African-American girl learning of her family's heritage. A wonderful story to share with all children and adults.

This was an interesting book and it opened questions for myself, little long for a child. In the back of the book they do try and explain where the author got her idea of the story. The story was a nice one but I think it left to much opened for questions and 'why'... The author did a good job at introducing the 'broom' for a marriage but why or how did that get started? Why did the bride and groom jump over the broom what did that represent? So although I enjoyed this book am glad my granddaughter wasn't old enough to ask questions because she would have been asking me ones I wouldn't have had the answers for and not sure if I 'googled' it had gotten answers to it either