LO C A L B O O KS
Rachel Marie-Crane Williams Run Home If You Don’t Want to Be Killed THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
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ocal author and University of Iowa professor Rachel Marie-Crane Williams’ beautiful new book, Run Home If You Don’t Want to Be Killed, is a tense work of graphic history. Many people are aware of the riots in Detroit in 1967, but fewer know of the earlier riot in 1943, the details of the two days of violence that erupted in the city or the stories of the 34 people who lost their lives. Williams’ book is an excellent entry into the events that led up to the riots that June, both a retelling and a visual representation of a time of intense transition. The story is told from multiple perspectives, from the white and Black civic leaders trying to find a way forward to the Black men and women organizing marches and strikes on the local level. Most interesting to me, and the driving force of the book, are the tales of the women. Williams made sure that the narratives of the Black women involved in the strike and the housing crisis were their own, with direct quotes and affidavits culled from the Detroit archives of the NAACP. The author, who is white, notes in the forward to the book that she struggled with speaking for others, so instead chose to tell the story with authentic accounts of the events that happened. The women’s stories were incredibly poignant, and they ranged from convincing their husbands to join the
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unions, to taking part in the marches, to looking for children after the riot. Hearing from women is vital, as they are often the backbone of any movement, and their stories are often erased from history. The black, white and gray drawings and art in the book are beautiful and help to further parallel the tension of the time. The Black women in the book are drawn with a range of emotion, whereas the Liza Ketchum, Jacqueline white characters seem flatter, esBriggs Martin and Phyllis pecially those white men in power. Root; illustrations by Similarly, the police are drawn Claudia McGehee with angry, pinched faces. I found Begin with a Bee myself pulled between wanting to UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS read the compelling narrative and wanting to examine the drawings. hen I received the email that Williams does not dance around there was a new book forthissues of police brutality and incoming that featured the talents of competence, and this is clearly Iowans Jacqueline Briggs Martin seen in the pages that deal with of Mount Vernon and Iowa City’s the riot itself. She does not paint Claudia McGehee, I honestly got the police with a soft brush; it is so excited. Their previous collabclear through the illustrations that oration, Creekfinding, is a favorite sympathies should and do lie with of mine, and I leap at the chance the marginalized. While I was to explore their work. Whenever I aware that I was reading about an ask myself why, exactly, I live in earlier time, the drawings of peoIowa, I only have to lose myself in ple and the emotions on their faces McGehee’s love letter-like illustraconveyed emotions similar to what tions to be reminded of the ineffawe see today. ble beauty of the prairie. “Bridges are liminal spaces,” McGehee turns those talents to Williams writes. “In Detroit, bees (a subject I already have a the Belle Isle Bridge (renamed MacArthur WILLIAMS DOES NOT Bridge in 1942) connects the urban indusDANCE AROUND ISSUES OF trial hub of Detroit with POLICE BRUTALITY AND the largest city island INCOMPETENCE, AND THIS park in North America.” IS CLEARLY SEEN IN THE Liminal is a good PAGES THAT DEAL WITH word for the book as THE RIOT ITSELF. well. It straddles work of art and academic study. It is rooted in history, but no modern reader will be able soft spot for!) and their habitats to read it and not think of modern in Begin with a Bee, out May violence. Liminal is also an apt 18. Each page is a universe to description of the city of Detroit get lost in. McGehee works in itself, always in transition, but scratchboard, which is at least rooted firmly in its past. This is a partially how her work manages beautifully illustrated book about a to be somehow both carefree and little known instance in American precise. Movement drives the eye history and definitely worth a read across each page, infusing her for historical perspectives on struc- scenes with life. But when stilltural racism. —Darcie Hutzell ness is warranted, she provides
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that, too, in equal measure. Begin with a Bee traces the life cycle of a queen rustypatched bumblebee, the first bee (the back text tells us) to be placed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species list. The plight of bees, we’re often told, is intricately tied to the survival of humanity. According to worldbeeday.org, one-third of the world’s food production depends on bees. (World Bee Day, incidentally, falls on May 20, just two days after this book’s release!) With bee populations at risk, the value of teaching children about them at a young age is clear. And this book does that with charm and aplomb, weaving the styles of the three authors together to create a narrative that is straightforward and compelling. I often read the children’s books that I review to my daughter (now 3), and for this one she sat in hushed excitement for the entirety. It takes scientific concepts and processes and makes them not just accessible but enthralling. The book ends with a slightly deeper dive into the science for older readers and a page titled “Ten things we can all do to help” that activates children to action. Many of them are, again, geared toward older kids—but my daughter was inspired and eager to share the book and the ideas with her grandmother, whose garden she plays in often. Parents, be aware that this is a book that is tailor-made to cause a case of the “Why?”s. If you don’t love exploring and learning with your child, then this isn’t the book for you. But if you are ready to dive down a rabbit hole (well, bee colony hole) of curiosity, then you’ll want to pick it up for every nature lover and nature lover-tobe(e) in your life. —Genevieve Trainor
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