NA-NI

by Alexis Deveaux ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1973

In short, impressionistic present-tense sentences Deveaux tells about na-ni, who lives in New York on 133 Street near 7th Avenue (where ""men and women are talking rainbows in the street"") and is waiting for the mailman to bring momma's welfare check so she can buy a ""flying"" bike. But then a ""strange lean man"" takes momma's check from the mailbox and na-ni, alone in her room, writes in her ""special book"": "". . . my bike is gone/ the sun cries on the street today/ don't that man know/ i am his sister he steal from?"" Despite the touches of self-conscious ingenuousness here and elsewhere Deveaux's approach to ghetto realism is a relief from the usual prosaic, camera eye treatment, and the skewed perspective and naive imagery of her bare black-and-white drawings suit the subjective style of the text. (Teardrop shapes rush from the fire hydrant, large eyes cover the buildings as tenants watch the mailman, etc.) However, the depiction of na-ni and her friend lollipop as balloon heads on sketchy poles, and the mailman as a snowman-like series of circles, seems to work against the emotional identification that the author-illustrator is striving for.

Pub Date: March 1, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1973

Categories: CHILDREN'S