Magnolia Flower Book Review

  I have an excellent book to share. It is titled Magnolia Flower. 

Before starting my book review, I created an on-demand webinar titled. 

  How To Understand DEI Without Being Overwhelmed. We’ll cover several topics. What does DEI actually mean? Why you should care about it, how to understand DEI for your business or even your classroom, and the best way to get started in this DEI journey. You can get access to this webinar if you join my email list. The link is below this blog article. 

 Magnolia Flower by the late Zora Neale Hurston was adapted from the author Ibram X Kendi and illustrated by Loveis Wise and Ibram X Kendi. 

Kendi wanted to adapt this story, which was published back in 1925. Kendi wanted to share Hurston’s literary works with a younger audience. Even if you’ve never heard of Zora Neale, Hurston, she had a 30-year career. 

She published four novels, two folklore books, and an autobiography in countless short stories, essays, articles, and plays. I grew up knowing about Zora Neale Hurston. I even have the book. Their Eyes Were Watching God,  

Magnolia Flower is a beautifully illustrated book, and I see a lot of watercolor and mixed media. The story begins with the main character, Bentley, a runaway slave who becomes part of the Maroons group. The Maroons were a group of freed slaves who started a new community in the South. 

 Bentley goes on and marries this beautiful Cherokee woman named Swift Deer. And they eventually had a daughter that they called Magnolia Flower. This historical fairy tale shares the hardships of black and indigenous people. Growing up, you will go on this journey through the eyes of Magnolia Flower. 

And finding the love of her own as an adult and the attitudes that her parents had toward her and her new love. This book’s exciting premise is that the story’s narrator is told by the trees and the river in this area. 

Children can read and understand the complex parts of our history in the multiple perspectives that need to be shared. 

I’m a big fan of this book and urge you to get a copy.

 Ibram has a historical note as well. Going deeper into European settlements. And the impact it had on the indigenous people. And then, Africans that came here first, in slavery. And even talks more about the Maroon communities. Many of us have never heard of the maroon community on our soil. So it’s a great starting piece, talking about. 

 Pre and Post-Civil War eras in the people that were impacted the most by it. And then, your students can research more about the Maroons, indigenous people, and the Trail of Tears. The age range ranges from four to about third or fourth grade. 

My advice for teaching this book to primary-aged students is to read the book but read it. I would only dive a little into it because developmentally, they probably wouldn’t overthink more of asking deep well, thoughted questions. 

On the other hand, for my third and fourth graders, I would have a lot more discussion with this book to dive into who the Maroons were and what the Trail of Tears resulted in. The characters are fictionalized, but what happened and the impact on the people was accurate, which I highly recommend when you preface this book. Check out Magnolia Flower wherever books are sold or in your lending libraries.