Review and Critical Analysis
In Talkin' About Bessie, Nikki Grimes tells the story of aviation pioneer Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman through a series of 21 free verse poems. Faced with poverty, sexism, and racism, Coleman defied all expectations, to become the first licensed female African-American pilot. The poems are fictionalized accounts based on the facts of Coleman's life.
Talkin' About Bessie opens with a brief historical background establishing Bessie Coleman's life in context of the history of aviation, and then jumps to a spread establishing a setting after a memorial for Coleman's death. The poems that follow are told as remembrances from family, friends, employers, flight instructors, newspaper reporters, and more. Each poem serves as a testament to the determination of Bessie Coleman to achieve great things despite the many setbacks she faced. Whether coming home from college because she could not longer afford it or learning a new language and moving overseas because no American flight school would accept an African-American woman, the poems of Coleman's life testify to her fighting spirit. The very last poem, told in Coleman's own voice, reveals the triumph she experienced through her flying.
The poems themselves are told in a very plain, conversational style free of lavish figurative language or rhyme. Instead they feel more like stories told in an interview, replicating natural speech. For example, Bessie's mother speaks of her early life saying:
I woke my Bessie before dawn on Sundays
to bathe and dress her for church,
bein' bound and determined that she,
like all my other children,
should first learn the wisdom of the Lawd,
and then, the wisdom of the world.
The language used for Bessie's mother recreates the dialect and speech patters of a Texas woman in the 1890s.
Each poem is accompanied by a small sepia-toned water color image of the speaker, whether that individual happens to be a factual part of Bessie Coleman's life, or a compilation character like News Reporter #2. On the opposite page is a beautiful watercolor illustration of the scene depicted in the companion poem. The result is 21 spreads filled with the most significant memories and moments from Bessie Coleman's life.
The book's ending provides closure for Coleman's life with a short biography with details of her death and effect on the future of aviation. The author provides references for source notes about Bessie Coleman and the field of aviation.
Bessie Coleman's significance as a pioneer in aviation barrier-breaker in discrimination against women and African-Americans makes this book a valuable addition to any library for children in grades 2-5.
Example Poem
Bessie Coleman
I'll never forget that first time in France.
My knees wobbled when I climbed into the cockpit.
The mechanic cranked the propeller for me, and soon
a fine spray of engine oil misted my goggles,
baptizing me for take off.
I taxied down the runway, praying.
But flying at Checkerboard Field in Chicago was the best.
My family and friends were there in the stands,
cheering me on as I sliced through the air.
Oh Mama! I wish you could've been in the plane
to feel that magnificent machine shudder
with the sheer joy of leaving the ground.
I climbed over a thousand feet that day,
did a snap roll that sent the blood rushing
to my head so fast I thought my eyes would explode.
My seat belt felt like a magnet, pulling on my spine.
I can still feel my hand gripping the joystick,
how my muscles ached from struggling
to hold the plane center. But I didn't mind.
To rest, even for a moment,
weightless and silent, on a cushion of cloud,
near enough the sun to scoop up a handful of yellow
was a privilege more than worth the price of pain.
In the end, I count myself twice blessed:
first to have experienced the joy of flight;
and, second, to have shared it with others of my race.
I'll say this and no more:
You have never lived
until you have flown!
Activity
To share this poem with children, begin with a picture of triumph. The picture could be something like a child holding a large trophy or a climber at the top of a mountain. Discuss with children the obstacles the subject of the photograph might have encountered and the feelings they might have felt along the way. You may wish to share your own example of triumph or ask volunteers to share their own story of accomplishment. Then read them the poem from Talkin' About Bessie written from Coleman's perspective. Read the poem a second time, or ask several volunteers to read a stanza each from a projected or paper copy. During the second reading, direct children to think about the different emotions Coleman was feeling in each of those moments.
As an extension, ask students to think about their goals for the future. Do they want to fly like Bessie Coleman? Own their own company? Learn to water ski? Provide old magazines that can be cut up, glue, or even just markers, colored pencils, or crayons and allow students to make a dream board to give them visual reminders of what they want to do in the future and encourage them when they are having a hard day.
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