Full name: Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet

Author: Andrea Cheng Year: 2012 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Biographies, Poetry, History, Art, Historical fiction, Children Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9781600604515 160060451X

Sometime around 1815, an enslaved young man named Dave was brought to Edgefield, South Carolina, the center of a pottery-producing area known for the alkaline glazes used on the stoneware. Dave was taught how to turn pots and jars on a pottery wheel by one of his first owners. As Dave's talent flourished, he created pieces of great beauty and often massive size. He also somehow learned to read and write, in spite of South Carolina's strongly-held fear of slave literacy. And then Dave did something even more incredible--he began to sign his jars and carve many of them with sayings and poems that reflected his daily life and experiences. He spoke out against slavery not by protesting or revolting, but by daring to write at all. Andrea Cheng has crafted a biography in verse as beautiful as one of Dave's jars. In simple, powerful words, including some of Dave's original writings, we learn his extraordinary story of courage, creative inspiration, and triumph. Similar books: Dave the Potter by Laban Carrick Hill Moses by Carole Boston Weatherford Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence Grandfather Counts by Andrea Cheng Gordon Parks by Carole Boston Weatherford Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange 28 Days by Charles R. Smith Jr. Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell Birmingham, 1963 by Carole Boston Weatherford Schomburg by Carole Boston Weatherford Ode to an Onion by Alexandria Giardino Emma's Poem by Linda Glaser Freedom Train by Dorothy Sterling Twelve Rounds to Glory by Charles R. Smith Jr. Desperate Romantics by Franny Moyle Touch the Sky by Ann Malaspina The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock M by Peter Robb Diego by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand