Pigskins to Paintbrushes

July 12, 2021
Ernie Barnes (1938–2009) is different from the kids in his community: “A boy who didn’t play sports? Who loved art, played the trombone, and enjoyed reading poetry?” In the Bottom, the African American neighborhood where Barnes lived in segregated Durham, N.C., expectations center on sports: “Play football—that’s what real boys do.” Barnes does play, eventually going pro, but maintains his art practice, parlaying his skill into becoming the official artist of the American Football League. Barnes’s two pursuits never quite cohere in this picture book, and the cheery mixed-media illustrations don’t evoke Barnes’s artistic aesthetic, adding to the sense that something essential is missing from this telling. But Tate’s tale illuminates the structural and social obstacles Barnes faced—from intense peer pressure to the adult Barnes’s longed-for first trip to an art museum, where he was told “your people don’t express themselves this way”—and clearly highlights the idea that there need be no division of interests between arts and sports. An afterword includes additional biographical information. Ages 6–10.

July 1, 2021
Grades 2-5 Growing up in a "hardworking but poor" Black neighborhood in Durham, North Carolina, Ernest Barnes excelled at drawing pictures, not at sports. In school, he endured plenty of teasing, especially as a teenager who grew big enough to play football. When a supportive coach encouraged him to try bodybuilding, Barnes took up the challenge and gained the strength and confidence that made him the captain of his high-school football team. The teasing stopped and, by senior year, scholarship offers poured in. After playing college football, Barnes was drafted by the Colts and played football professionally for five years before retiring from the sport and beginning his new career as an artist. The book's informative back matter includes additional biographical information, source notes for quotes, a bibliography, and an author's note relating Tate's childhood experiences to those of Barnes. Written in clear, direct sentences, the text uses quotes effectively without interrupting the flow of the narrative. The nicely composed mixed-media collage illustrations establish the twentieth-century settings while capturing the stages of Barnes' life. An expressive, engaging picture-book biography.

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August 1, 2021
Ernest "Ernie" Barnes was teased for his love for art and indifference to sports; despite this, Ernie found a way to satisfy his love of art and stop the teasing. This biography begins with Barnes' early life in segregated Durham, North Carolina, where he was singled out by classmates for his lack of athletic ability. In junior high, Barnes joined his school's football team but later quit. In high school, coaches recruited Barnes due to his size, and after taking up weight training, he became a powerhouse player. His incredible talent on the field led to college scholarships and, eventually, spots on several pro teams. At the end of his athletic career, Barnes decided to return to art full time and held his first art show while employed as an artist for the New York Jets. Barnes' paintings were featured in art shows across the country and appeared on the TV show Good Times, a show Barnes also appeared on and that young Tate watched regularly. Via quotations, Tate weaves Barnes' own voice into his smoothly told narrative, to great effect. Tate's illustrations are a bit of a departure from his characteristic style, using matte surfaces and collage to evoke Barnes' times. A scene of Barnes in uniform, sketching on the sidelines, says it all. A conversational afterword and author's note flesh out Barnes' life and describe Tate's process. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Will inspire young readers to stay true to themselves. (source notes, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2021
Tate's latest picture-book biography (Swish!, rev. 11/20; William Still and His Freedom Stories, rev. 1/21) focuses on artist and professional football player Ernie Barnes (1938-2009). The opening pages describe Barnes's childhood struggle to find his place in "the Bottoms, a neighborhood of hardworking but poor African Americans" in Durham, North Carolina. A quiet, unathletic child, Ernie enjoys drawing and paging through art books at the house where his mother is employed as a cleaner. In an attempt to find social acceptance, he joins his school's football team; after a coach introduces him to bodybuilding, he begins to achieve athletic success. From there, the two parallel tracks of his life -- visual art and football -- continue until his late twenties, when he quits football for good and pours his energy into art, leading to international renown. Tate incorporates words from Barnes's memoir, From Pads to Palettes, into the story, grounding it in the artist's own memories and voice. At the same time, he makes the deliberate choice not to mimic Barnes's artistic style in the illustrations. (An afterword directs readers to Barnes's website and other sources, in order to "enjoy the true artwork of Ernie Barnes in its full glory.") It is impossible to tell the story of a Black American artist born in the 1930s without discussing segregation and racism, and Tate weaves those threads seamlessly into his narrative, drawing particular attention to the moment when Barnes exhibits his work at the North Carolina Museum of Art, a place where he had once been told by a docent that "your people don't express themselves this way." A comprehensive bibliography is appended. K Rachael Stein

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2021
Tate's latest picture-book biography (Swish!, rev. 11/20; William Still and His Freedom Stories, rev. 1/21) focuses on artist and professional football player Ernie Barnes (1938-2009). The opening pages describe Barnes's childhood struggle to find his place in "the Bottoms, a neighborhood of hardworking but poor African Americans" in Durham, North Carolina. A quiet, unathletic child, Ernie enjoys drawing and paging through art books at the house where his mother is employed as a cleaner. In an attempt to find social acceptance, he joins his school's football team; after a coach introduces him to bodybuilding, he begins to achieve athletic success. From there, the two parallel tracks of his life -- visual art and football -- continue until his late twenties, when he quits football for good and pours his energy into art, leading to international renown. Tate incorporates words from Barnes's memoir, From Pads to Palettes, into the story, grounding it in the artist's own memories and voice. At the same time, he makes the deliberate choice not to mimic Barnes's artistic style in the illustrations. (An afterword directs readers to Barnes's website and other sources, in order to "enjoy the true artwork of Ernie Barnes in its full glory.") It is impossible to tell the story of a Black American artist born in the 1930s without discussing segregation and racism, and Tate weaves those threads seamlessly into his narrative, drawing particular attention to the moment when Barnes exhibits his work at the North Carolina Museum of Art, a place where he had once been told by a docent that "your people don't express themselves this way." A comprehensive bibliography is appended.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)