Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Abstract

Reviewed by: Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It by Andrea Davis Pinkney Deborah Stevenson, Editor Pinkney, Andrea Davis Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It; illus. by Brian Pinkney. Little, 2020 [224p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780316536776 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780316536769 $9.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-9 This novel comprises dramatic monologues by three characters to trace the life of an African-American family in Mississippi; each section includes several monologues, opening with stage direction–style "Where and When" information, with lyrical free-verse interludes accentuating the atmosphere. Loretta (known as 'Retta) is the speaker in the first section, from 1927-1930, then her adopted younger brother Roly (found by 'Retta as an abandoned baby) speaks about 1940-1945, then Roly's daughter, Aggie B., relates stories from 1962-1968, as the family moves from being oppressed sharecroppers to fighting for their right to vote. The voices are vivid as they detail life in Jim Crow Mississippi, from white landlords who treat their dogs with more respect than their tenants to savage beatings for attempting to teach Black citizens how to pass the capricious voting tests, and individual monologues would be effective as a basis for dramatic performance. However, the retrospective flavor to the storytelling distances the narratives, and the monologues don't always hang together: significant thematic points, like Roly's Night-Deep vigil or 'Retta's multiple sclerosis, don't get followed long-term, and the open-armed welcome back of Aggie B.'s mother after eighteen years of absence and silence is more poetic than likely. Nonetheless, it's a gratifyingly unconventional format and a musical sequence of storytelling that may illuminate some stark moments of our country's history. Extensive end matter includes notes about the history, the form, the art (unfinished in the galley), sharecropping in the South, and real life people mentioned; there's also a bibliography. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois