Freedom Soup

It’s New Year’s Day and Belle and Ti Gran are embarking on a tradition that links generations—making Freedom Soup. With the question “Know why they call it Freedom Soup?”, Ti Gran begins to tell the story of her heritage, which transports the reader to Haiti before, during, and after the slave revolution and lasts through the soup making process. The celebration of freedom conveys the reader forward through time again to Belle and Ti Gran’s current celebration with family and friends over Freedom Soup. The bold colors and style of the illustrations masterfully blend past and present in the setting of Ti Gran’s small apartment (full of furnishing and art indicative or her Haitian heritage), while simultaneously imbuing the illustrations with incredible movement as well as authenticity as Belle and Ti Gran dance around the kitchen to the rhythm of Haitian music. Each dramatic pose struck by the seemingly inseparable pair adds to the happy and celebratory spirit of the occasion and masterfully creates a tone so joyous as to make this trip down memory lane of the dark subject of slavery informative and enlightening but still child-friendly.