Holmes, Ekua. Black is a Rainbow Color. Written by Angela Joy. Roaring Brook Press, 2020.

In Black is a Rainbow Color, Ekua Holmes combines collage with a heavy, bold line to create pictures of figures and objects in a style reminiscent of stained glass. As in this spread, the dynamic illustrations depict scenes of strength, pride, and faith. This illustration, too, complements Angela Joy's text, and presents a deeper commentary of the Black experience in the United States.

According to Doonan, "[l]ine creates contour ... shading and a sign for movement" (23). Here, Holmes uses bold, primarily diagonal strokes to depict the Black community's walks in protest during the Montgomery bus boycott following the arrest of Rosa Parks, an event Joy details in the book's back matter. As Shulevitz points out, "diagonal lines 'move,' seeming to fall or rise" and may "move freely" to imply drama (179). In the image above, the figures' outlines are placed along diagonal lines and suggest this type of movement.

As Shulevitz (50) and Doonan (18) point out, the text and illustrations of a picturebook interact with one another in a way that "pictures may elaborate, amplify, extend, and complement the words” (Doonan18). Here, the image of feet moving up and down and legs making strides create a rhythm and expand on the words, "Black is a rhythm. Black is the blues. Black is side-walking in spit-shined shoes." Shulevitz contends, "[a] picture book is like a musical score for reading aloud" (56). The movement in the text, just like in the images, also creates a rhythm, and Joy uses repetition ("Black is" at the beginning of each sentence) and rhyme ("blues" sounds the same as "shoes") to further the beat along.

Finally, the image above is characteristic of exemplification. Doonan writes, “pictures show, by example, abstract notions, conditions, ideas, that cannot be pointed to directly but may be recognized through qualities or properties which the pictures literally or metaphorically display" (15), and, here, Holmes has positioned the walking figures directly on top of a piece of collage–newspaper clippings–directly referring to the bus boycott, Klan activity, and further plans for protest.

Works Cited

Doonan, Jane. Looking at Pictures in Picture Books. Thimble, 1993.

Holmes, Ekua. Black is a Rainbow Color. Written by Angela Joy. Roaring Brook Press, 2020.

Shulevitz, Uri. Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books. Watson Guptill, 1985.