A beautiful poetic story about Stephen Bishop, a slave in the mid-1800’s, who was a cave explorer and tour guide.

The author’s note tells us that Bishop explored and mapped out the largest known cave system in the world, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Bishop explored and mapped over four hundred miles of  passages. The illustrator’s note explain the history of the cave and why tourism was part of that history.

Bishop was bought when he was a teenager specifically to learn the passageways so the owner could host tours and profit from it. During the tours, people would use the smoke from a candle to write their names on the cave ceiling. In this way Bishop was able to learn to read and write. “All the fine folks….want to leave their mark…I show them how to candle-write….in return they teach me, sometimes, without knowing what’s been taught”.
His name is written inside the cave along with all the others. “And you will have no way of knowing,….from candle-smoke….the color of my skin..”

End notes tell the reader that Bishop’s grave lies just outside the cave entrance.

Water color and collage are used by the illustrator, Collier, in a way that shows dimension and texture. Realistic mixed with artistic. The illustrations are a study in themselves.

The author and illustrator do a marvelous job of defining the stark differences of the “real” world and the underground world. Coming away from this wonderfully told story the reader will be questioning which world is truly the real one.

This book will be useful for civil rights units, American history units and Art study, among other things.