[ 책 소개 ]

* Caldecott Honor 수상도서
* Coretta Scott King Award 수상도서
* Charlotte Zolotow Award 수상도서
* NCTW 2017 Notable Poetry Book
* The Horn Book Fanfare Award
* School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
* Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
* The Washington Post Best Book of the Year
* New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
* A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book
* Washington Post Best Illustrated Children’s Book
* A Junior Library Guild Selection


그림책의 최고 영예인

닫기x

What is 칼데콧상? Caldecott상은 해마다 미국 도서관 협회(American Library Association)에서 그 해의 가장 뛰어난 어린이 그림책에 수여하는 상이며, 한 작품에 Medal상을, 그리고 2~5편의 작품에 Honor상을 수여합니다. 19세기에 활동한 영국의 저명한 Illustrator인 Randolph Caldecott의 업적으로 기리기 위해 1938년에 제정되었으며, 현재는 어린이 그림책 분야의 세계에서 가장 권위있는 상으로 인정받고 있습니다.

칼데콧상을 비롯해서 레타 스콧 킹 아너 상, 샬롯 졸로토 상과 같은 유수의 상을 모두 휩쓸었으며, 여러 매체로부터 "올해의 책"으로 선정된 명작그림책입니다. 국내에서는 "콩고 광장의 자유"라는 제목으로 번역서가 출간되었습니다.

이 책은 지금도 실제로 존재하는 ‘콩고 광장’에서 있었던 이야기를 전해 줍니다. 혹독한 노동에 시달리던 미국 루이지애나주 뉴올리언스의 노예들이 일요일 반나절만큼은 콩고 광장에 모여 시름을 잊었다는 실화를 통해, ‘자유’가 주는 의미를 되새기게 해 줍니다.

미국 루이지애나주 뉴올리언스의 노예들은 혹독한 노동에 항상 시달려야 했습니다. 그러면서 일요일이 오기를 손꼽아 기다렸지요. 일요일에는 콩고 광장에 모여 반나절의 자유를 누릴 수 있었으니까요. 거기서 시장을 열고 노래하고 춤추고 음악을 연주했습니다. 그곳에서는 걱정도 시달림도 고생도 잊을 수 있었지요.

월요일, 화요일, 수요일…… 일요일까지! 책을 읽는 독자들은 노예들의 하루하루를 숨죽이며 따라가게 됩니다. 그들과 같은 시대를 살지도 않았고 만난 적도 없지만, 얼핏 건조할 정도로 담담한 이야기 속에 노예들이 날마다 느껴야 했던 고단함과 절망감, 그러면서도 여전히 감춰지지 않는 희망의 희끄무레한 한 자락이 고스란히 담겨, 그 속에 같이 동화되어 버리기 때문이지요. 콩고 광장을 향한 노예들의 간절한 기다림에 어느새 독자들도 노예들을 한마음으로 응원하며 그들이 그토록 기다리는 ‘일요일의 콩고 광장’을 함께 기다리는 것입니다.
그리고 일요일, 마침내 탁 트인 콩고 광장에 노예들이 모여 노래하고 춤추고 음악을 연주할 때 숨죽이며 따라가던 독자 또한 말할 수 없는 해방감을 느끼게 됩니다. 걱정이라고는 하나도 없다는 듯 자유를 만끽하는 노예들처럼 콩고 광장이 선물하는 반나절의 자유 속에 흠뻑 빠지는 것이지요.

사람은 어려운 환경에서도 희망과 기쁨을 찾아낼 능력이 있다는 것을 이 시정 넘치는 책은 잘 표현하고 있습니다. 우리에게 잘 알려지지는 않았지만, 콩고 광장은 정말이지 자유의 심장이라는 것을 절절히 느낄 수 있습니다.

시처럼 함축적으로 써 내려간 짧은 문장 속에 촘촘하게 표현된 노예들의 고통과 해방감, 투박한 듯 섬세하게 억압과 자유를 동시에 담아낸 신비로운 일러스트. 이 한 권의 그림책을 통해 ‘일요일의 콩고 광장’에 방문해 보세요. 그리고 그 속에서 오래전 노예들이 발견했던 ‘자유’를 꼭 한번 찾아보세요.






[ 관련 동영상 보기 ]

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[ 서지 정보 ]
Paperback: 40 pages
ISBN-10: 1499801033
ISBN-13: 978-1499801033
책 크기: 28.6 cm x 22.4 cm



[ 영문 서평 ]

Book Description
This poetic, nonfiction story about a little-known piece of African American history captures a human's capacity to find hope and joy in difficult circumstances and demonstrates how New Orleans' Congo Square was truly freedom's heart.

Mondays, there were hogs to slop,
mules to train, and logs to chop.
Slavery was no ways fair.
Six more days to Congo Square.

As slaves relentlessly toiled in an unjust system in 19th century Louisiana, they all counted down the days until Sunday, when at least for half a day they were briefly able to congregate in Congo Square in New Orleans. Here they were free to set up an open market, sing, dance, and play music. They were free to forget their cares, their struggles, and their oppression. This story chronicles slaves' duties each day, from chopping logs on Mondays to baking bread on Wednesdays to plucking hens on Saturday, and builds to the freedom of Sundays and the special experience of an afternoon spent in Congo Square. This book includes a forward from Freddi Williams Evans (freddievans.com), a historian and Congo Square expert, as well as a glossary of terms with pronunciations and definitions.



School Library Journal *Starred Review*
This vibrant picture book examines Congo Square in New Orleans. A foreword and author's note explain how, historically, slaves in Louisiana were allowed Sunday afternoons off. This custom continued after the territory joined the United States, although in time, New Orleans established one location for all slaves to gather: an area that became known as Congo Square. This unique practice helped enslaved and free Africans maintain cultural traditions. The impact was felt far beyond New Orleans as musicians, dancers, and singers developed, explored, and shared rhythms that eventually grew into jazz music. The text is realistic but child appropriate. Couplets count down the days to Sunday in a conversational tone ("Slavery was no ways fair./Six more days to Congo Square."). The writing is accompanied by folk art-style illustrations, with paint applied in thick layers. Some images, such as faces, are more detailed, while others are presented as silhouettes. Collage with painted elements is incorporated on occasion. The architecture portrayed evokes the New Orleans setting. Bright colors suggest the exuberance displayed at Congo Square. Spreads where the slaves are finally able to sing, dance, and express emotion contrast effectively with the forced restraint of those depicting the work week. VERDICT Unique in its subject and artistic expression, this beautiful book belongs in most collections.


Kirkus Reviews *Starred Review*
Count down the days until Sunday, a day for slaves in New Orleans to gather together and remember their African heritage. In rhyming couplets, Weatherford vividly describes each day of nonstop work under a "dreaded lash" until Sunday, when slaves and free blacks could assemble in Congo Square, now a part of New Orleans' Louis Armstrong Park and on the National Register of Historic Places. Musicians "drummed ancestral roots alive" on different traditional instruments, and men and women danced. They also exchanged information and sold wares. The poetry is powerful and evocative, providing a strong and emotional window into the world of the slave. Christie's full-bleed paintings are a moving accompaniment. His elongated figures toil in fields and in houses with bent backs under the watchful eyes of overseers with whips. Then on Sunday, they greet one another and dance with expressively charged spirits. One brilliant double-page spread portrays African masks and instruments with swirling lines of text; it is followed by another with four dancers moving beautifully-almost ethereally-on a vibrant yellow collage background. As the author notes, jazz would soon follow from the music played in Congo Square. Weatherford and Christie dazzlingly salute African-Americans' drive to preserve their dignity and pride. (foreword, glossary, author's note)


Horn Book Magazine *Starred Review*
In historic Louisiana, enslaved Africans were provided a half-day of rest each Sunday, and in New Orleans their official and legal gathering place was Congo Square. With two spare couplets for each day of the week, Weatherford tells readers what slavery looks like. The verses count down to Sunday: "Mondays, there were hogs to slop, / mules to train, and logs to chop. / Slavery was no ways fair. Six more days to Congo Square." A slow, steady rhythm builds as the many labors and horrors ("the dreaded lash, too much to bear") of enslaved people are described. Weatherford sugarcoats nothing, but because of the poetic form, the text is not mired in sadness or pain; Weatherford just respectfully and soberly acknowledges it throughout. Christie's illustrations, whose colors and components recall the work of Jacob Lawrence, add even more emotional depth. Though most of the faces are featureless, Christie's use of sharp angles in the slaves' bodies as he depicts their back-breaking work evinces their ever-present emotional and physical suffering. When they reach Congo Square, though, the figures elongate and have softer curves and angles, allowing them to relax and to dance; they leap as high as Weatherford's joyful verse. Weatherford's foreword provides historical context for the real place the book describes.


Booklist *Starred Review*
Coretta Scott King Honorees Weatherford and Christie have created a gorgeously artistic and poetic homage to the birthplace of jazz and a people whose legacy is too often ignored. For one day a week, the slaves of New Orleans were allowed by law to gather on one public space: Congo Square. Through sparse, deliberate language, Weatherford tangibly captures the anticipation of those Sundays, listing the physical and emotional work that slaves endured without respite. They tend to animals and crops, cater to their masters, endure losses and lashings, all the while counting the hours until they can revel in the freedom of Congo Square. Holding on to that joyful experience feels like a form of silent resistance as the slaves bear the harshness of the week. The blunt words are richly supplemented by illustrations reminiscent of Jacob Lawrence's work. Christie elegantly renders people's gestures in chalk, capturing their energy or lack of, depending on the context. Blocks of color stamped with texture bring to life the landscape and movement in a place where "They rejoiced as if they had no cares; / half day, half free in Congo Square." Subtle and layered, this is an important story beautifully told.