Infinite Hope

A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace

De: Ashley Bryan

Narrado por: Dion Graham

Recipient of a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award
Recipient of a Bologna Ragazzi Non-Fiction Special Mention Honor Award
A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019

From celebrated author and illustrator Ashley Bryan comes a deeply moving picture book memoir about serving in the segregated army during World War II, and how love and the pursuit of art sustained him.

In May of 1942, at the age of eighteen, Ashley Bryan was drafted to fight in World War II. For the next three years, he would face the horrors of war as a black soldier in a segregated army.

He endured the terrible lies white officers told about the black soldiers to isolate them from anyone who showed kindness—including each other. He received worse treatment than even Nazi POWs. He was assigned the grimmest, most horrific tasks, like burying fallen soldiers…but was told to remove the black soldiers first because the media didn’t want them in their newsreels. And he waited and wanted so desperately to go home, watching every white soldier get safe passage back to the United States before black soldiers were even a thought.

For the next forty years, Ashley would keep his time in the war a secret. But now, he tells his story.

The story of the kind people who supported him.
The story of the bright moments that guided him through the dark.
And the story of his passion for art that would save him time and time again.

Filled with never-before-seen artwork and handwritten letters and diary entries, this illuminating and moving memoir by Newbery Honor–winning illustrator Ashley Bryan is both a lesson in history and a testament to hope.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Narrator Dion Graham embodies the award-winning illustrator Ashley Bryan in this WWII memoir. Eighteen-year-old Bryan was in art school when he was drafted into an all-black battalion and sent to fight with Allied troops on D-Day. His passion for art helped him manage the horrors of war as well as the racism of white officers. The print version of this audiobook includes original photographs, handwritten letters, and sketches. Graham modulates his voice to differentiate between the narrative and the interspersed letters to re-create the intimate feeling of a scrapbook. Listeners will be especially moved by the emotion in Graham's voice as the author describes the psychological and physical toll of war in his letters to his cousin Eva, and one particularly moving letter to his pastor."

Beautiful Story

I loved this audio book. The story was so vividly expressed and narrated. I felt I was hearing a humbled retrospective of war times not often placed in the ethos along side triumphant war tales. Its a short and sweet offering but packed full of expressive story telling.