Mr. Pierce’s barbershop is the place to be according to the young Black narrator of this joyful picture book. “Razors and roaring laughter. Scissors and stories. Tonics and tunes on the radio.” But the shop is more than a barbershop. It’s also an art gallery, full of the wood carvings that Mr. Pierce has created. Mr. Pierce tells the boy that he started carving when he was a boy himself. “I could see a picture that I liked, or a person would tell me a story … and I’d get me a piece of wood and start to carve it. … Everything I carve, I want it to tell some kind of story.” This inventive, inspired introduction to Black folk artist Elijah Pierce imagines an encounter between Pierce and a fictional Black child in the late 1970s. But Pierce’s barbershop gallery in Columbus, Ohio, and the astonishing body of work he created are real, as are the quotes from Pierce throughout the story. Pierce’s work ranged from animals to Bible stories to portraits to personal history. Photographs of 11 of his pieces are included in the end matter, along with an informative author’s note, a timeline, and illustrator’s note. The illustrator used the mokuhanga printmaking process along with collage to make striking images perfectly suited to a book about a folk artist. (Ages 7-11)

A picture book biography about the barber shop of woodcarver Elijah Pierce, recipient of the highest folk art honor in the United States.

"Creeeeak!" goes the screen door to self-taught artist Elijah Pierce's barbershop art studio. A young boy walks in for an ordinary haircut and walks out having discovered a lifetime of art.

Mr. Pierce's wood carvings are in every corner of the small studio. There are animals, scenes from his life, and those detailing the socio-political world around him. It's this collection of work that will eventually win Elijah the National Heritage Fellowship in 1982 just two years before his death. But the young boy visiting the shop in the 1970s doesn't know that yet. All he knows is: "You gotta meet Mr. Pierce!"

Based on the true story of Elijah Pierce and his community barber shop in Columbus, Ohio, this picture book includes cleverly collaged museum-sourced photos of his art and informative backmatter about his life. With engaging text by Pierce to the Soul! playwright Chiquita Mullins-Lee and Christopher Award-winning author Carmella Van Vleet, it's illustrated with striking Japanese woodblock by Jennifer Mack-Watkins. A new addition to vital Black art history!