The bus arrives at the field in the dark of morning, workers gather around the fire, and "everyone speak in smoky whispers," Shelan's family's day in the fields begins.

Too small to carry her own sack, Shelan piles cotton in the middle of the row for her mamma to collect; she admires her daddy who picks cotton so fast you can hardly see him do it; and she imagines how much cotton she could pick if she were as old as her sisters. "It's a long time to night."

Sherley Anne Williams draws on her childhood experience in the cotton fields of Fresno for this evocative story of a migrant family's day. Dramatic illustrations by Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist Carole Byard capture the poignant reality of life in the fields

From the dust jacket