Cicely Tyson
by Renée Watson; illus. by Sherry Shine
Primary    Amistad/HarperCollins    48 pp.
11/24    9780063219991    $19.99

In this picture-book biography told in poems, Watson (Maya’s Song, rev. 11/22) pays homage to legendary actor Cicely Tyson (1924–2021). The book opens with a poem called “1920s” (“Black is Harlem. / Black is the buzz of a trumpet, /the soft brush tickling cymbal, / dark fingers tiptoeing on bass”) to set the scene for the world into which Tyson was born. Through chronologically presented poems, we learn about her childhood in the South Bronx and East Harlem and the love she received from her parents (both before and after their separation when she was nine). At the age of twelve, she learned to play the piano and the organ. At sixteen, “Cicely was known / around the neighborhood / as the girl with talent and style.” Then one day, Tyson met a man who told her she should be a model—the beginning of her decades-long acting career. Watson’s accessible and immediate poems about Tyson’s life also highlight the history that was being made at the time. Shine’s digitally rendered illustrations use “fabric, quilting and embellishments,” calling to mind the quilting tradition that has been integral to Black women’s art. The layers of fabric and stitching add depth and texture to each illustration. A timeline is appended; some back matter unseen.

From the ">January/February 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.