RAP IT UP!

A talented youngster schools readers in this rhyming introduction to hip-hop.

Prolific author Carole Boston Weatherford and her son, spoken word poet Jeffery Boston Weatherford, have teamed up for a tutorial on composing and performing rap lyrics. The narrator, a swaggering Black child who was “born holding a mic, pad, and pen,” is the perfect teacher. As the setting shifts from a living room to the child’s neighborhood, the park, and the train station, the text introduces many poetic devices and rap-specific terminology (defined in a glossary at the end), starting with hyperbole: “Once I took the mic, I rapped for five years straight.” The authors encourage readers to write about what matters to them, to practice, and to perform. Reading the lively text aloud is an accessible and fun way to practice rapping. Martinez’s joyful illustrations employ both primary and pastel colors, shading, collagelike layers, and words to create a child’s creative world with an irresistible sense of depth and mood. Pieces of lined yellow paper are woven throughout the spreads to hold text and remind readers of the tools of the creative process. Old-school hip-hop gets a shoutout with depictions of records, boom boxes, and cassette tapes.

A thrilling ode to rap and the creative process.