Ellen’s Broom

This is the first book I’ve been able to review before its actual publication. I guess that means The Pirate Tree is starting to get noticed! (The local librarians on the children’s floor in town will be relieved to have a break from me and my late fines…) I particularly enjoy reviewing picture books because I spend so much of my day reading the tiny little text of student research papers; sitting back with a nice big colorful children’s book is transformative. Also, it’s a guilty pleasure–in this case–to have some aspect of cultural history brought to me so easily.

The theme of this book is renewal, and it makes sense that the illustrations are bright, colorful, and even whimsical. With an interesting parallel to the marriage equality issue of today, Ellen’s Broom centers on the legitimizing of marriages of former slaves. During their status as chattel, they could only “jump the broom,” meaning holding hands as they jumped over a broom placed on the floor, symbolizing “a leap into life together.” It was a hopeful symbol in the face of how easily an owner could separate their physical selves.

Like a child of the Holocaust or of the “relocation” of Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor, Ellen is just young enough not to have her soul profoundly altered by the pogrom. Most of her life will be lived in freedom–from legal bondage anyway–and she is effervescent with hope. She wants her parents–newly married in the eyes of the law after a lifetime together–to jump the broom in celebration. Her mother doesn’t want to call back the past that way, but seeing her daughter’s disappointment, she quickly co-opts the old tradition with a new backdrop of freedom. Ellen’s Broom speaks to how renewal and rebirth allow one to honor the past without getting trapped in it.

Toddlers and early readers will enjoy the exuberant colors and the simple broom activity that has so much significance beyond a mere jump. Ellen’s Broom by Kelly Starling Lyons (illustrated by Daniel Minter, published by Putnam) will make its debut on January 5, 2012. Starling Lyons will be on a blog tour January 5 through the 15. The book can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com and IndieBound.org.