Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

"Anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go that you can't get to any other way. The next thing you know, you're flying among the stars."

-Cassie Louise Lightfoot

This quote from the book, Tar Beach, represents the dream of a young girl from New York City. The book is a story about a Cassie Louise Lightfoot, a young African American girl, who falls asleep on Tar Beach, a.k.a. the roof of her apartment building, and dreams that she’s flying around New York City. In her young, innocent mind she imagines that anything she flies over she comes to own. When she flies over the George Washington Bridge she says that it’s now hers, and she wears the lights as a diamond necklace. After she flies over the bridge she flies above the Union building and takes claim of that as well. She wants to own the Union building so that her father can join the Labor Union, which at the time of the story he couldn’t because of his African American and Indian heritage and because his grandfathers were not members so therefore he could not be either. Next, she flies over the ice cream factory so that her and her family can have ice cream for dessert every night. It is the sweet, innocent thoughts like this that make Tar Beach a great read.

I found the illustrations to be inspiring, the story captivating and the book overall was just fantastic. There were no problems with stereotypes or negative portrayals of characters; the book was very racially, culturally and historically sensitive. The book explores historical issues through the eyes of children which make it easier for children and adults alike to understand and relate to. Tar Beach is so well received it won the 1992 Caldecott Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration , Reading Rainbow Feature Selection , A New York Times Best Illustrated Book, Parents' Choice Gold Award. I, as well as many other people, highly recommend this book.