In one of the most visually exciting books to appear in a long time, artist Faith Ringgold has created a picture book based on her story quilt, "Tar Beach." Eight-year-old Cassie Lightfoot and her baby brother Be Be lie stretched out on a mattress on the rooftop of their Harlem apartment while her parents play cards with their next-door neighbors. During that magical time that comes between wakefulness and sleep, the adult conversation blends into Cassie's daydream as she envisions herself flying high above the city, claiming that she owns it all and can change anything to make life come out the way she wants it to be. Ringgold's boldly imaginative acrylic paintings brilliantly capture the power of a child's soaring imagination on the twilight edge of dreams. Set in 1939, TAR BEACH succeeds as an appealing story for children illustrated with fine art, an astute societal commentary and a new variation on a traditional African-American liberation motif. Winner, 1991 CCBC Coretta Scott King Discussion for Illustration/Honor Book, 1991 CCBC Caldecott Discussion. (Ages 5-11)

CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD WINNER • CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST ILLUSTRATED BOOK

Acclaimed artist Faith Ringgold seamless weaves fiction, autobiography, and African American history into a magical story that resonates with the universal wish for freedom, and will be cherished for generations.

Cassie Louise Lightfoot has a dream: to be free to go wherever she wants for the rest of her life. One night, up on “tar beach,” the rooftop of her family’s Harlem apartment building, her dreams come true. The stars lift her up, and she flies over the city, claiming the buildings and the city as her own.

As Cassie learns, anyone can fly. “All you need is somewhere to go you can’t get to any other way. The next thing you know, you’re flying among the stars.”