Troubled Waters: A River’s Journey Toward Justice

Boston Weatherford and Collier limn an arresting history of the Alabama River from the water body’s perspective in this distinctive picture book. Incorporating simple facts (“318 miles long, fifty to 200 yards wide”) and lyrics from spirituals (“Gonna lay down my burden down by the riverside”), emotionally resonant text traces that which has flowed “past my banks.” Early lines emphasize the age of the river, which predates the fossils in its basin and the Indigenous Choctaw in whose language its name means “Thicket Clearers.” Proceeding pages note that the river watched enslaved people fleeing bondage, stood witness to the Trail of Tears, saw the Black Belt’s birth, and viewed the violence of Bloody Sunday. Picturing figures above and below the water’s surface, linked by bubbles rising from the deep, collaged acrylic and watercolor illustrations show how the living and the lost share the same history. It’s an accurate telling that acknowledges a continuation of resistance driven by “oppressed masses in boats on the bottom/... afloat as if an armada.” A timeline and illustrator’s notes conclude. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)