Reviews: (by author)

Raven, Margot Theis. Circle Unbroken. Illus. E. B. Lewis. New York: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 2004. $16.00. ISBN 0-374-31289-3. 40 pp.

Circle Unbroken is a semi-fictional story about a grandmother who tells her daughter how she has learned to weave sweetgrass baskets. She goes through their ancestors, the Gullah, from Africa and how their traditions carried the basket weaving through generations by testing girls and boys on their skill in order to rise up into adulthood. She goes on to tell how their family was captured and transported to the Carolinas to be sold as slaves. She tells of the Revolutionary War and of freedom won. She explains how the "beauty of old baskets was something new" as people stop by the small carts selling baskets to the tourists. Throughout the ages, the tradition of weaving the baskets has been passed down generation to generation linking the future to the past.

This book takes an educational topic, the history of the African Gullah and the sweetgrass basket, and weaves the fictional story of a girl learning from her grandmother to create an entertaining and informative book for children. It certainly developed my own appreciation for a unique culture and its sweetgrass baskets.

Recommended
Holly Boland, May 2004

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