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It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw Paperback – Picture Book, February 19, 2019

by Don Tate (Author), R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 25 ratings
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The inspiring biography of self-taught (outsider) artist Bill Traylor, a former slave who at the age of eighty-five began to draw pictures based on his memories and observations of rural and urban life in Alabama.

Growing up as an enslaved boy on an Alabama cotton farm, Bill Traylor worked all day in the hot fields. When slavery ended, Bill's family stayed on the farm as sharecroppers. There Bill grew to manhood, raised his own family, and cared for the land and his animals.

By 1935 Bill was eighty-one and all alone on his farm. So he packed his bag and moved to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama. Lonely and poor, he wandered the busy downtown streets. But deep within himself Bill had a reservoir of memories of working and living on the land, and soon those memories blossomed into pictures. Bill began to draw people, places, and animals from his earlier life, as well as scenes of the city around him.

Today Bill Traylor is considered to be one of the most important self-taught American folk artists. Winner of Lee & Low's New Voices Award Honor, It Jes' Happened is a lively tribute to this man who has enriched the world with more than twelve hundred warm, energetic, and often humorous pictures.

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  1. Reading age
    6 - 11 years
  2. Print length
    32 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    1 - 6
  5. Dimensions
    10.75 x 0.25 x 8.5 inches
  6. Publisher
    Lee & Low Books
  7. Publication date
    February 19, 2019
  8. ISBN-10
    1643790552
  9. ISBN-13
    978-1643790558
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

* "Tate and Christie capture the spirit behind the work of Bill Traylor, 'one of the most important self-taught American folk artists of the twentieth century.' ... An important picture-book biography that lovingly introduces this 'outsider' artist to a new generation." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"[A] thoughtful reflection on the nature of creative inspiration and a man who has come to be regarded as one of the most important self-taught American folk artists." -- Publishers Weekly

Christie's own flat primitive style is a perfect match for Traylor's story, and he deftly uses a second naïve style to represent Traylor's own art. But the real artistry here is in Don Tate's finely crafted account of Traylor's first eighty years; the ordinary events in the life of an ordinary African American man are made notable by Tate's repetition of the line: "Bill saved up memories of these times deep inside." When these memories later burst into art, they are made all the more meaningful. -- The Horn Book

About the Author

Don Tate is an award-winning author, and the illustrator of numerous critically acclaimed books for children. He is the recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award and the Carter G. Woodson Book Award. Tate and his family live in Austin, Texas. You can visit him online at dontate.com and follow him on social media at @devas_T.



R. Gregory Christie is the recipient of numerous awards including a Caldecott Honor and six Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honors, and his books have been recognized by The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books list three times. He currently paints in the evenings while traveling around the country doing school visits. You can visit him online at gas-art.com.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lee & Low Books; Standard Edition (February 19, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1643790552
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1643790558
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 6 - 11 years
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 1 - 6
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.75 x 0.25 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

About the authors

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  1. R. Gregory Christie

    R. Gregory Christie

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    R. Gregory Christie is a multi award-winning illustrator and author for numerous children's books. His passion for art has presented him the NAACP Image Award, Caldecott Honor, Sibert Honor, an Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award nomination, three New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year Award, and six Coretta Scott King Honor Awards in Illustration. He is the owner of GAS Art Gifts, an online children’s bookstore that sells the books, art and stationery connected to his published titles. Find out more about Gregory and his store’s services by visiting www.gas-art.com and see information about his lecturing services on www.rgregorychristie.com.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Don Tate

    Don Tate

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Don Tate is an the illustrator of numerous critically acclaimed books for children, including Carter Reads The Newspaper (Peachtree, 2019); No Small Potatoes: Junius G. Groves and his Kingdom in Kansas (Knopf, 2018); Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions (Charlesbridge, 2016); The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch, (Eerdmans, 2015); Hope's Gift (Penguin); and The Cart That Carried Martin, (Charlesbridge).

    He is the author of Strong As Sandow: How Eugen Sandow Became The Strongest Man on Earth (Charlesbridge, 2017); Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton (Peachtree, 2015); and It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started To Draw (Lee & Low Books, 2012). Don is a two-time recipient of an Ezra Jack Keats Book Author Award, the winner of a 2016 Christopher Award, and a 2016 Texas Institute of Letters book awards recipient.

    His forthcoming book, William Still and his Freedom Stories: Father of the Underground Railroad will publish with Peachtree Publishing in November 2020.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
25 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Anne C. Bingman Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars Would have loved to meet this man
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2020
Verified Purchase
A little-known true story about an artist whose talent developed late in life. As an adult I enjoyed this children’s book immensely. It should be in every elementary school library.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating story
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2012
Verified Purchase
It Jes Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw by Don Tate is a wonderful book about a little known (well, to me) artist who found his passion later in life. Bill Traylor was a humble man who used his talent to create pictures of his life memories,for himself. Don Tate's words draw you in and R. Gregory Christie's illustrations spell out Bill Traylor's life. This is a "must-have" biography for kids!
5 people found this helpful
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Julie Castle
5.0 out of 5 stars Great man
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2019
Verified Purchase
Would have liked more pictures but the story was a good one. Nice for kids.
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Hal
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful story for first through upper grades
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2016
Verified Purchase
Hard to believe this takes place only six years before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Wonderful story for first through upper grades.
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Traci Bold
5.0 out of 5 stars ... a picture book to pull on your heartstrings for good reason. Also inspiring as it focuses on the ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2017
Truly a picture book to pull on your heartstrings for good reason. Also inspiring as it focuses on the good, folk artist, Bill Traylor, found throughout his life and at 81 years old, began to draw.

Included in this sweet book are fun facts and mesmerizing facts. Written by Don Tate, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie and published by Lee & Low Books. A New Voices Award Honor book.

#PB #biography #mustread #artists #diversity
One person found this helpful
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Deb Nance at Readerbuzz
5.0 out of 5 stars Out of the blue
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2012
Bill Traylor was eighty-one years old when, out of the blue, he began to draw. He'd saved up memories of a lifetime, memories of Sunday morning church services and swimming in the river with his friends and picking cotton on the farm, and he suddenly began to draw little pictures of fighting cats and men in tall hats and hunters on horses. A show was arranged for Bill and he had a chance to share his memories with the world.

I love this beautifully written story of a simple man who suddenly became an artist at an age that most people are starting to wind down, a man who almost compulsively drew and drew, a person who created simple beautiful art.
4 people found this helpful
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Betsy Bird
4.0 out of 5 stars Happenings. Happenstance.
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2012
Teaching kids about outsider art feels like a no-brainer to me. Which is to say, why doesn't it happen more often? Perhaps there's a feeling that educating kids on the self-taught is ultimately self-defeating. Can't say as I agree, of course. Seems to me that learning about the great outsider artists could give a kid a kind of hope. This is particularly true in the case of Bill Traylor. Here you have a guy who lived a whole life, discovered an artistic calling near the end, and remains remembered where before he might have been forgotten. It makes for an interesting lesson and, to my relief, and even more interesting book. In It Jes' Happened Don Tate and R. Gregory Christie pair up for the first time ever to present the life and art of an ordinary man who lived through extraordinary times.

He was born a slave, Bill Traylor was. Around 1854 or so Bill was born on a cotton plantation in Alabama. After the Civil War his parents stayed on as sharecroppers. After he grew up Bill ran a farm of his own with his wife and kids, but when Bill turned eighty-one he was alone on the farm by himself. With cane in hand he headed for Montgomery. It was there that he started drawing, for no immediately apparent reason. He'd draw on cardboard or discarded paper. After a time, a young artist took an interest in Bill, ultimately showing off his work in a gallery show. Bill enjoyed it but for him the drawing was the most important thing. An Afterword discusses Bill's life and shows a photograph of him and a piece of his art.

When you're writing a picture book biography of any artist the first problem you need to address is how to portray that person's art in the book. If you're the illustrator do you try to replicate the original artist's work? Do you draw or paint in your own style and include small images of the artist's original work? Or do you show absolutely none of the original art, trusting your readership to do that homework on their own? There is a fourth option, but I don't know that I was aware of it before I read this book. You can hire an illustrator whose style is similar enough to the original artist that when the time comes to reference the original art they make their own version and then show the artist's work at the end.

Now I'll go out on a limb here and admit that I've never really been a huge fan of R. Gregory Christie's style before. It's one of those things I can appreciate on an aesthetic level but never really personally enjoy. Yet in this book I felt that Christie was really the only person who could do Traylor's tale justice. I had initially wondered why he had been chosen (before reading the book, I might add) since author Don Tate is an artist in his own right. If he wrote this story why didn't he just go ahead and illustrate it too? The answer is that while Don's style works for bios like  She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story  or  Say Hey!: A Song of Willie Mays , Traylor's tale demanded an illustrator that could replicate his near two-dimensional style. Christie delivers. In this book the characters in Traylor's memories walk and dance and pray in ways similar to those found in his art. Christie simultaneously creates something lively and fun while paying a kind of homage to the book's subject.

Not to say the text is anything to scoff at either. Though I was initially put off by the design of the book with it's blocks of text just dropped into the images without so much as a by-your-leave, the wordplay here more than made up for it. Tate had a challenge of his own when writing this book. Little is known about Traylor's youth aside from some broad facts gleaned when he was in his eighties. So how do you write a book when you don't have many specifics to work with? In Tate's case the answer was to use Traylor's art as a starting point. He begins the book by showing Traylor sitting down to make his art. Then we flash back to the past and see some of the moments of the man's youth. Many of the sections there end with the sentence, "Bill saved up memories of these times deep inside himself." It becomes a kind of mantra, culminating in a scene later where we see Traylor drawing in earnest, his creations flitting about his head like there are so many they can't all fit in his brain or even on the page. Tate's focus is on the memories, whether they are glimpses of the past or drawings on a page. I dare say Traylor would have appreciated that kind of a focus.

This is not the first children's biography of Traylor made, of course. In 1995 Mary E. Lyons wrote  Deep Blues: Bill Traylor, Self-Taught Artist  to great acclaim. That book had the advantage of showing Traylor's art itself in several black and white and full-color reproductions. While I liked seeing a little image of his art, I craved more. Fortunately it's that kind of feeling that will lead kids to discover more about the artist himself.

The book serves as a kind of natural companion to the Caldecott Award winning book of nonfiction  Dave the Potter  by Laban Carrick Hill. Both books examine men who experienced slavery firsthand but rather than be forgotten they live on through their art. Dave never escaped his situation and, in a sense, neither did Bill. But they both pursued what they loved and their picture books give kids a sense of how a person can have power while being effectively invisible to the greater world. Kids themselves are often invisible to others. Maybe Bill will help some of them see that art lets you be heard, albeit silently sometimes. A great book, a great subject, and a great use of two notable author/illustrator talents.

For ages 5-9
5 people found this helpful
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M. Heiss
5.0 out of 5 stars Smooth and lovely
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2012
Slow down and savor this book.

The words are delicious. Read them out loud. Lulling, soothing, slow. Great storytelling. The story is one of patient remembering and looking forward.

Bill Traylor finally, at age 85, put pencil to cardboard and started to draw those memories, sometimes playful, sometimes sad. The art in this book is NOT Bill Traylor's art, but in a way, it captures the spirit of his art. (There is one panel of Bill Traylor's own art at the very end of the book, on the Afterword page.)

A similar book is "I am Marc Chagall", where Bimba Landmann does not reproduce Chagall's work but captures the feeling of it.  I Am Marc Chagall (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers)

Great biographical book about an unusual American talent. All the source information is at the front of the book, including quote sources. Enjoy!
3 people found this helpful
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