Dear Benjamin Banneker by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Dear Benjamin Banneker by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Throughout his life Banneker was troubled that all blacks were not free. And so, in 1791, he wrote to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who had signed the Declaration of Independence. Banneker attacked the institution of slavery and dared to call Jefferson a hypocrite for owning slaves. Jefferson responded. This is the story of Benjamin Banneker--his science, his politics, his morals, and his extraordinary correspondence with Thomas Jefferson. Illustrated in full-page scratchboard and oil paintings by Caldecott Honor artist Brian Pinkney.

Andrea Davis Pinkney is the author of more than 20 children's books, including Bird in a Box and several collaborations with her husband Brian Pinkney, including Sit -In, Hand in Hand, and Martin & Mahalia. She resides in Brooklyn, New York, with her family. Sean Qualls is the illustrator of several well-known children's books, including Carole Boston Weatherford's Before John Was a Jazz Giant, for which he got a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, and Jonah Winter's Dizzy, which was named an ALA Notable Book, a Kirkus Best Book, and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. He's also worked on Toni Morrison and her son Slade's Little Cloud and Lady Wind, as well as Spike and Tonya Lee's Giant Steps to Change the World, which will be released in January 2011. Sean resides in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, illustrator Selina Alko, and their two children.