Southern Press
A Review of
Quirky Kids' Zoo

(Pat Brannon, Text; Jimena Pinto-Kroujiline, Illustrations;  St. Charles, Missouri: Wandering Sage Publications, 2011.)
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In her latest children's book, Quirky Kids' Zoo, Mississippi writer Pat Brannon takes youngsters on an imaginary excursion to an unforgettable menagerie where the inhabitants never cease to amuse, captivate or surprise.  Written to impact young, impressionable minds and tailored to suit short attention spans, Brannon's book will entertain so well that parents and teachers might forget it is actually educational.  Delightfully illustrated by Jimena Pinto-Kroujiline, Quirky Kids' Zoo capably engages the inquisitive nature of children, whether they still enjoy hearing a bedtime story or have already developed a love for reading. 
Hardly a boring, cumbersome tome or another dust-catching photo album chock-full of the all too familiar pictures of slaves laboriously picking cotton (or disturbing images of lifeless black men hanging from trees as their white executioners, no doubt proud of their actions, casually gather below), Freedom explores the African American journey from the slave house to the White House. A virtual treasury of documented history, this book examines the plight of early blacks, honors those whose efforts changed a society and celebrates the lives of those who overcame social or economic adversities, rising to prominence in their respective fields.

If a single picture is worth a thousand words, the value of this book, which contains hundreds of photographs, is immeasurable. Daring to feature unfortunate aspects of America's past that some downplay even today and, still, others would rather forget, Freedom uncovers the shameful, wicked countenance of bigotry, evoking pity and helpless compassion for its past victims while inciting rage against those who foolishly perpetuate hatred and racial prejudice.

Unforgettable images captured include those of a freed slave whose bare, mutilated back discloses his former treatment by an oppressive, sadistic owner; the bullet-riddled, burning body of a black man accused of assaulting a white girl in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1919; a grief-stricken Mamie Till at the funeral of her 14-year-old son Emmett who had been abducted, brutally tortured and murdered for allegedly whistling or 'familiarly' speaking to a white woman in August 1955; and a young woman's face feeling the brunt of a fellow black's open hand as they prepare for the "physical abuse and vigilante violence that frequently occurred in civil rights organizing efforts in the Deep South" during the 1960s.

But not every photograph is poignant, unsettling or repulsive and, along the way, African Americans have seen their share of triumphs in spite of persecutions and violence. A picture taken in London in 1872 depicts Nashville's renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers who popularly performed spirituals before white audiences throughout the Midwest and Eastern U.S. as well as Europe. Captured in 1939 is an amazing view of around 75,000 gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to hear a black woman sing-in this case the elegant and beautiful Marian Anderson. Then, there is a shot of a strong, stoic Coretta Scott King, taken on April 16, 1968 in the midst of intense heartbreak and sadness, marching in Memphis for better working conditions for the city's sanitation workers. Her husband, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was to lead the peaceful protest, but was gunned down just days earlier. (The demonstration, incidentally, was effective and Memphis reached a settlement with its workers.)

Quirky Kids' Zoo author Pat Brannon was the subject of a 2009 Southern Edition feature.
Author: Greg Freeman.  Published September 4, 2011.

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And, lastly, there are those pictures of blacks who have achieved the once impossible. These include that of a jubilant and glamorous Oprah Winfrey whose entertainment enterprise has garnered her international acclaim and a billion dollar fortune. Also featured is a photo taken at a meeting of the National Security Council in the Cabinet Room of the White House in which two of the most politically powerful African Americans in history-Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice-are seated with the president. Pundits and political columnists have speculated for quite some time whether the nation's first black president or vice president might be Powell or Rice. Only time will tell.

Freedom is by no means a coffee table book designed to be aesthetically appealing or entertaining, but rather it is a compelling visual tool that will enable readers to explore the past and better understand how far we've come and how much further we need to go before racial equality-and harmony-is truly attained.