Tar Beach

By Faith Ringgold

Subjects: lexile_code:AD, Flight, lexile:790, Vocabulary, Historical, Wishes, Intergenerational relations, Imagination, Juvenile fiction, African American, Social Themes, People & Places, award:Caldecott_award, award:Ezra_Jack_Keats_award, Vocabulary, juvenile literature, Home, age:min:6, Children's stories, Fiction, age:max:8, Caldecott Medal, Liberty, African American girls, Blacks, African Americans, 1000blackgirlbooks, lexile_range:701-800, Children's fiction, African American folk art, collectionID:caldecotthonor90, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance, City and town life, Flight, fiction, grade:min:Kindergarten, Coretta Scott King Award, Social life and customs, African American families, Manners and customs, Prejudices, Artists, grade:max:3, 20th Century, Desire, Harlem (new york, n.y.), fiction, African americans, fiction, New York Times reviewed, Dreams

Description: Cassie Louise Lightfoot, eight years old in 1939, has a dream: to be free to go wherever she wants for the rest of her life. One night, up on "tar beach" --the rooftop of her family's Harlem apartment building--her dream comes true. The stars lift her up, and she flies over the city. She claims the buildings as her own--even the union building, so her father won't have to worry anymore about not being allowed to join just because his father was not a member. As Cassie learns, anyone can fly. "All you need is somewhere to go you can't get to any other way. The next thing you know, you're flying above the stars." This magical story resonates with a universal wish. Originally written by Faith Ringgold for her story quilt of the same name, Tar Beach is a seamless weaving of fiction, autobiography, and African-American history and literature. - Author website.