How does one approach a difficult subject such as slavery with young children? I now have the answer...read Alice McGill's "Way Up and Over Everything." This story was passed down from generation to generation and told to her by her great- grandmama. It's the story of the mother of her great-grandmama who was a 16 year old slave in 1842. She witnessed five newly purchased slaves being brought to their plantation. The life of the slave and their plight unfolds from her gentle, storytelling style, telling just enough and not too much. The illustrations capture that gentle feeling as well with folksy stylized watercolor figures. At one point in the story the five new slaves disappear and are seen in a far off field with dogs close behind. Here is where the story's magical realism takes wings. The Africans start circling around and around until their feet lift off the ground and they all fly away. The reader wants to burst out clapping!!! "This is a story that celebrates the power of the most poignant desire of every man, woman, and child: to be free...The gift of flying was created by a wish for freedom." Alice says that she felt that her great grandmama was revealing a great secret in that story, and that she and her siblings believed that certain Africans shared this gift of taking to the air. Alice grew up to be a professional storyteller and award winning author.