Sweet Dreams, Sarah
Written by Vivian
Kirkfield and illustrated by Chris Ewald
Creston Books, LLC, 2019
Sarah E. Goode was born
into slavery, but she later built furniture and became one of the first African
American women to win a U.S. patent.
When Sarah was a slave,
she dreamed of a better life. Her father was a carpenter, and she thought she
could build furniture, too, one day.
After the Civil War
ended and the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, Sarah moved to Chicago with
her family.
Later, she married a
kind stair-builder named Archibald Goode. They started a family and rented out
rooms in their house.
Sarah saved as much as
she could because she wanted to open a furniture store. Finally, she and
Archibald opened a store. They sold furniture that they had built.
She kept hearing her
customers complain about how crowded their homes were. They worked at
low-paying jobs and could afford only one-room apartments.
Sarah got the idea to
make a bed that folded up when it wasn’t being used. That way families would be
able to give their children their own beds.
She worked at it and
worked at it, and finally built a bed that folded out of the cabinet doors of a
desk: a cabinet bed.
Getting the patent wasn’t
easy. The first time she applied for one, it was denied. Her idea wasn’t
different enough from other similar inventions. She rewrote her application to
explain how her cabinet bed was unique.
This time she won the patent: the S.E. Goode cabinet bed, awarded July 14, 1885.
Kirfield's picture book
biography tells Goode's inspiring story in a simple way for young readers. Chris Ewald's full-page
illustrations in warm browns bring the story to life.
About the Author
Vivian Kirkfield has
written several picture books: "Passover Plate" (Holiday House); "Four Otters
Toboggan: An Animal Counting Book" (Pomegranate); "Making Their Voices Heard: The
Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe" (Little Bee Books,
January 14, 2020); and "From Here to There: Inventions That Changed the Way the
World Moves" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, fall 2020). She is a retired
kindergarten teacher with a master’s degree in early childhood education. She
lives in Amherst, NH.
About the
Illustrator
Chris Ewald has
illustrated several picture books. He also works in games and animation. He studied art at Virginia Commonwealth University
in Richmond, Virginia. He lives in Austin, TX.
