Phillis's Big Test (review)

In 1772, African-American teen poet Phillis Wheatley was called to appear before an illustrious group of learned gentlemen to prove that she had in fact written the poems that she was attempting to have published as a book. Focusing on Phillis' walk to the testing site, Clinton uses flashbacks to show how Phillis arrived at this point in her life, detailing her purchase by the Wheatleys when she "was just shedding her front teeth," her education alongside the Wheatley children, her love of the classics, and her anxiety about the task before her. Unfortunately, the details are sketchy, and while there is an epilogue, there are no source notes or suggestions for further reading about this important figure in American letters, no examples of her poetry, no indication that no Boston publisher would print her work even with the imprimatur of the examiners, and no mention that she died alone and in poverty at thirty-one. Qualls' fresh and distinctive acrylic and collage illustrations, which provided a synesthetic experience of the jazz scene in Dizzy (BCCB 11/06), don't work quite as well here, although they do communicate Phillis' determination as she makes her way through the surprisingly uncrowded streets of Boston and imbue her with a prim grace and a serene beauty. Because of her importance and the dearth of standalone books about Wheatley, this is worth adding to a collection, but readers will have to fill in a lot of gaps about her life and work themselves.