Jacqueline Woodson, Newbery Award winning author, has used a simple rope connecting generations of family history.  For three generations that rope is first used as a jump rope, then passed down as a rope to secure suitcases onto a car for a big move from South Carolina to New York City, then as a clothes line, a pull toy and a string to hold up a sign at a family reunion.  Even though this is a work of historical fiction, the story is based on the Great Migration that her family, and six million other African Americans, experienced over generations from the early 1900’s until the mid 1070’s.  The rope is a symobl of “Hope.”  Written with such insight and poetic grace, this thoughtful and moving piece of storytelling will linger in the hearts of the readers for a long time.  So will the beautifully done James Ransome illustrations.