Brick by Brick is a children's historical novel explaining the building of the White House. Charles R. Smith Jr. explains how slaves were forced to build the White House from sun up to sun down by using their bare hands. Their profits were given to their owners, the slaves only hoped that the skills they learned would one day pay for their freedoms. I believe this is a good read for children, as this novel gives them an age appropriate explanation of how the White House was built. I do however wish there would be more details in the story. ( )

This story is a tribute to the slaves who built the original white house. The text is almost like a song but the book is very educational. It teaches about the slave owners who would rent out their slaves to help build and keep all the money earned. The slaves are forced to build but as they build they learn skills. The skilled slave hands earn money for their work which they can use to help buy their freedom. They built the white house with their hand, brick by brick they got closer to freedom. I believe this book is about the importance of perseverance and never giving up. ( )

I really enjoyed the background story of how the White House was built. The fact that so many hard working slaves were forced to lay brick, cut & carve wood, and were involved in every aspect or the original construction was very interesting. I feel that many people don't realize what all went into the building of the most important houses in the U.S. And that fact that most of these slaves did not get paid a dime for the work was crazy. It did however pay off in the long run when they were able to use the skills they acquired while building this house to gain their freedom. I feel the illustrator did a great job showing the harsh conditions the works were put in to complete the project. ( )

In almost-rhyming verse, Charles R. Smith Jr. presents the slaves who built the White House. I think the rhythmic verse does a lot to evoke the feelings that Smith is probably going for. He emphasizes how much back-breaking work it was to build the White House, that the slaves didn't get paid but their masters did, and how working on the White House increased some slaves' skills so that they might one day earn money to buy their freedom.

Accompanying illustrations are washed out, almost hazy, which was a good fit, I think. It's like you're remembering something painful (which we are), so you keep it a little bit hazy to ease the hurt. These are no happy working slaves, either. The paintings, while not graphic, definitely show how hard the slaves were working.

The text begs to be read aloud and this would make a good classroom readaloud for units on slavery, but I don't think it has enough actual information to be a great standalone nonfiction text. An author's note gives some more information about why slaves were used to build the White House and what their conditions were like. Selected sources are cited. ( )

A powerful, poignant story about the slaves used to build the White House. Floyd Cooper's illustrations are characteristically brilliant. ( )