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Reading Rockets offers a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in working with struggling readers who require additional help in reading fundamentals and comprehension skills development.

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A video interview with

Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson is a naturally gifted artist whose extraordinary talent continues to develop and be discovered. Before the age of 30, Nelson had already illustrated children's books, sold paintings to celebrities, and worked on a movie directed by Steven Spielberg.

In 2007 Kadir Nelson received a Caldecott Honor for his evocative illustrations in Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. In 2008 he won a second Caldecott Honor for his artwork in Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad.

Click on the links below‡ to watch this interview online. You can also read the interview transcript or a short biography of Kadir Nelson, or see a selected list of his children's books.

View online

  • A painter at heart (1:36)

    Kadir Nelson remembers the day when he decided to change his major from architecture to illustration.

  • Wish upon a star… but do your homework, too (2:03)

    Nelson took art school seriously — and his hard work paid off.

  • We Are the Ship (1:04)

    In this video clip, Kadir Nelson describes why this book took him seven years to complete.

  • Word of mouth (0:59)

    Nelson explains how some of his paintings ended up in the hands of celebrities.

  • Ellington was not a street (1:37)

    For this award-winning book, Kadir Nelson had to develop a visual narrative to accompany the sparse text.

  • Moses (1:13)

    Nelson discusses his emotional illustrations in this Caldecott-Honor-winning book about Harriet Tubman.

  • Painting African-American history (1:19)

    Kadir Nelson likes to share history by illustrating essential human truths.

  • Say it out loud (0:50)

    Nelson shares some inspirational thoughts for kids who want to become artists.

‡ This video clip will appear in Windows Media Player, which most computers already have installed, or you can download it now. Macintosh users can download the free Flip4Mac playback file, which allows you to play Windows Media files in your Quicktime player.

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