Compiler Rochelle (Jewels, 1998, etc.) envisioned this project as a way to help youngsters release their “own creative energy” even as they confront the “work, pain, love, anger, regret” endemic to the human experience. In general this is a welcoming and welcome volume, an ambitious pairing of some 20 inspiring poems with quality reproductions of handsome work by significant African-American artists. Rochelle includes 17 poets, including such greats as Angelou, Braithewaite, Brooks Clifton, Cullen, Dove, Dunbar, Giovanni, Hayden, Hughes, Johnson, Jordan, and Walker. Old favorites include: Langston Hughes’s “My People” and Lucille Clifton’s “Listen Children.” The illustration choices mostly reflect 19th- and early-20th-century artists like Henry Ossawa Tanner and Charles Dawson, or mid-century painters like Romare Bearden, Horace Pippin, and Hughie Lee-Smith. Unfortunately, the book’s overly busy design seriously detracts from the art reproductions and often diminishes the text. The paintings are stunning enough to be viewed without decorative embellishments. Particularly annoying is a black and white stripey tail that curves around and under Lucille Clifton’s “Auction Street” and its paired, powerful, painting—Jacob Lawrence’s “Community.” Riflescope-like spots decorate the black page that includes Countee Cullen’s “ Incident” and distressingly distracts from Lev T. Mills’s affecting sepia-toned image of a young boy, chin in hand, considering his life and his community. Though backmatter is included, it is, sadly, too brief to be of use for the reader who wants to know more about the poets and the artists Rochelle highlights. There is little or no substantive information about the writers, the original sources and dates of the poetry, or the medium, dimension, and dates of the reproduced art. However, despite these limitations, families and libraries hungry for more information and inspiration on African-American themes will want to own this as a beginning. Words with Wings will soar year round—not just during Black History month. (Picture book/poetry. All ages)
Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16415-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems.
Rhyming poems introduce children to anthropomorphized trucks of all sorts, as well as the jobs that they do.
Adorable multiethnic children are the drivers of these 16 trucks—from construction equipment to city trucks, rescue vehicles and a semi—easily standing in for readers, a point made very clear on the final spread. Varying rhyme schemes and poem lengths help keep readers’ attention. For the most part, the rhymes and rhythms work, as in this, from “Cement Mixer”: “No time to wait; / he can’t sit still. / He has to beg your pardon. / For if he dawdles on the way, / his slushy load will harden.” Slonim’s trucks each sport an expressive pair of eyes, but the anthropomorphism stops there, at least in the pictures—Vestergaard sometimes takes it too far, as in “Bulldozer”: “He’s not a bully, either, / although he’s big and tough. / He waits his turn, plays well with friends, / and pushes just enough.” A few trucks’ jobs get short shrift, to mixed effect: “Skid-Steer Loader” focuses on how this truck moves without the typical steering wheel, but “Semi” runs with a royalty analogy and fails to truly impart any knowledge. The acrylic-and-charcoal artwork, set against white backgrounds, keeps the focus on the trucks and the jobs they are doing.
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5078-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead.
An Easter-themed board-book parody of the traditional nursery rhyme.
Unfortunately, this effort is just as sugary and uninspired as The Itsy Bitsy Snowman, offered by the same pair in 2015. A cheerful white bunny hops through a pastel world to distribute candy and treats for Easter but spills his baskets. A hedgehog, fox, mouse, and various birds come to the bunny’s rescue, retrieving the candy, helping to devise a distribution plan, and hiding the eggs. Then magically, they all fly off in a hot air balloon as the little animals in the village emerge to find the treats. Without any apparent purpose, the type changes color to highlight some words. For very young children every word is new, so highlighting “tiny tail” or “friends” makes no sense. Although the text is meant to be sung, the words don't quite fit the rhythm of the original song. Moreover, there are not clear motions to accompany the text; without the fingerplay movements, this book has none of the satisfying verve of the traditional version.
Leave the hopping to Peter Cottontail and sing the original song instead. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5621-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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