Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 15, 1993                   TAG: 9305150133
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by LENI ASHMORE SORENSEN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EACH PAGE OF "I, TOO" IS A PLEASURE TO READ

\ Rush right out to the book store!

This beautiful volume is a perfect gift for graduations and the wedding season. "I, Too Sing America" is a day book that commemorates the best and most creative in the art and personalities of African American heritage. Each page is a pleasure. There is generous space under the lender dates for personal entries of birthdays or family events. Yes, this a book to be used.

From cover to cover "I, Too" is illustrated lavishly. Just to have the art is a wonderful gift -- full page color reproductions of works by such artists as Edmonia Lewis, Charles White, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Stephanie E. Pogue to give just a tiny sampling of the more than 30 artists represented. The works are an eclectic mix of the famous and lesser-known from the late 19th century to 1991. The authors have gone to great effort to include an impressive array of photos and drawings of black American personalities throughout history, and an equally impressive variety of mini-biographies and historical events to give an idea of that day in history.

I was delighted to find that I share a birth date with the writer Henry Dumas; that my wedding anniversary is the date that Shirley Chisholm was elected to the U.S. Congress; and that Arna Bontemps and my grandmother were born on the same day.

\ AUTHOR Leni Ashmore Sorensen will begin graduate studies at William & Mary in the fall.