We Could Fly
In a companion to Build a House, Rhiannon Giddens – Grammy Award winner and co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops – gives wing to a moving tale of grace and transcendence, with acclaimed artist Briana Mukodiri Uchendu.
At a sparrow’s urging, a young girl feels a mysterious trembling in her arms, a lightness in her feet, a longing to be free. Her mother tells her that her Granny Liza experienced the same, as did many of their people before her. Perhaps it’s time, Mama says, to slip the bonds of earth and join the journey started long ago? To hold each other tight and rise? Drawing on song lyrics, which in turn draw on a heritage of African folklore, this incantatory dialogue between a mother and daughter paired with startlingly beautiful illustrations celebrates love, resilience and the spiritual power of the “old-time ways” – tradition and shared cultural memory – to sustain and uplift.
Rhiannon Giddens co-founded the Grammy Award-winning traditional African American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops and has been nominated for numerous additional Grammys as a soloist and collaborator. A musician, singer, songwriter, actor, librettist and MacArthur Fellow, her many roles and honours include serving as artistic director of Silkroad and performing for the Obamas at the White House. The author of Build a House, illustrated by Monica Mikai, Rhiannon Giddens lives in Ireland.
Briana Mukodiri Uchendu is an illustrator, visual development artist, and first-generation Nigerian-American. Her new and forthcoming books include The Talk by Newbery Honor winner Alicia D. Williams, Soul Step by New York Times best-selling author Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams and Night Market by Seina Wedlick. Briana Mukodiri Uchendu lives in Texas, USA.