Walking the Log

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Nickens, an 88-year-old self-taught painter, engagingly reminisces about her childhood in various African American communities in the South. A series of soft paintings in a flat, nave style capture moments both timeless and historical (e.g., ``Picking Wildflowers,'' ``Hide and Go Seek'' and ``Saturday Night Bath''). Poverty is in evidence (children run barefoot, home is a dilapidated shack) but the joy of childhood transcends. In informal, conversational language, Nickens describes each painting, the activities and people portrayed, and expands as memories surge upon her. For a moment she steps into the past-into the one-room schoolhouse or the flowering woods-then, with a question or a comparison, moves back to the present. This wonderful oral history recreates a world of swings and doodlebugs, Sunday best clothes and kites; adult figures are peripheral. In the same way, racial injustice is touched upon by implication (``I wanted to be a schoolteacher.... That was about the only professional job black people did at the time, teaching school''). An unusually appealing historical document, and an unself-conscious introduction to art. Ages 7-up. (Oct.)