HONORING OUR ANCESTORS

Rohmer reassembles part of the original cast of Just Like Me (1997, not reviewed) and adds new faces for this showcase. With a full-page painting and a brief anecdote, each artist pays tribute to a family or spiritual ancestor: George Crespo to his Puerto Rican abuelo; icon painter Mark Dukes to Mahatma Gandhi and others; JoeSam to the three Harlem aunts who raised him; Australian-born Mira Reisberg to a gallery of inspirational figures that includes Groucho Marx. Although done in individual styles, the art’s crisp lines, bold colors, and commonality of feeling create a visual unity unusual to albums of this sort, a unity reinforced by the artists’ unforced, natural-sounding statements. Captioned portrait photographs of each contributor and, where possible, each ancestor, further strengthen connections between past and present, between reader and artist. (Picture book. 9-11)