No way around it, this book is supa-dupa fly, with lush illustrations anchored in signature hip-hop iconography for the...
Morrison’s illustrations set the stage for Weatherford’s rhythmic history in verse, breaking from hip-hop’s early influences to today’s global hip-hop takeover.
This celebration begins, appropriately, with the ancestors. An homage to Afro-descendent “folktales, street rhymes, and spirituals,” along with images of Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar, is juxtaposed with a backpack-toting black male with a crisp fade and T-shirt emblazoned with the signature words of Notorious B.I.G.: “It was all a dream.” This slogan recalling the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. highlights how the art form has served a dual purpose for hip-hop heads to get down at the party as well as to unify on the streets. Weatherford demonstrates how James Brown’s funk matched with Jamaica’s dub was present in DJ Kool Herc’s Bronx block parties, at which hip-hop’s birth is formally credited. But Weatherford and Morrison don’t stop at the music. Graffiti artists on the subway lines of NYC, B-boys and B-girls on the cardboard dance floors, and the unforgettable hip-hop fashion are featured prominently, albeit with a heavy regionalist emphasis on its East Coast–reppin’ legends. Bronx-born superproducer Swizz Beatz provides the foreword, honoring the role models that paved the way to his flourishing artistic career. (There are relatively few artists from outside New York and New Jersey featured, though some come through in thumbnail biographies of both male and female artists in the backmatter.) A glossary of classic hip-hop terminology is included along with an author’s note and an illustrator’s note.
No way around it, this book is supa-dupa fly, with lush illustrations anchored in signature hip-hop iconography for the future of the global hip-hop nation. (Picture book. 4-14)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0411-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A versatile and irresistible invitation to explore the outdoors.
Three children explore and collect things from the forest floor in this multitasking picture book.
Part story, part seek-and-find, part nonfiction nature book, this adventure begins as three friends, two White and one Black, enter the woods wearing backpacks, dog running along ahead. On the opening spread, a rhyming couplet at the top invites readers to follow a child narrator into the woods (I and we are used throughout, and both work). Two additional lines declare, “Look what I found! / A curly stick that looks like a magic wand.” An insert in the bottom-right-hand corner asks readers to also find one signpost, two butterflies, and three flowers. On the second spread, facts about the shapes of trees are placed throughout the illustration, and a full sidebar shows and labels tree shapes to find. The spreads continue to alternate between these layouts as the children make their way through the woods, finding different “treasures” along the way. At the end of their walk, they have a table full of finds, and the rear endpapers show adorable craft creations composed of objects from the woods, with a reminder to only take treasures from the ground. The book’s detailed, varied illustrations and useful information for beginners invite readers to linger over the pages and to use the book as a companion in the natural world. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.6-by-19.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 87.9% of actual size.)
A versatile and irresistible invitation to explore the outdoors. (Informational picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1723-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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