A collection well-suited to young boys of color as well as all young fans of hip-hop culture, who often long for...
What if Shel Silverstein grew up on hip-hop?
Children’s poetry meets hip-hop culture in this colorful collection anchored by street art and mixed with witty and empowering rhyme. Offering over 60 poems accompanied by graffiti-inspired illustrations from an international collective of artists, Cannon touches on all facets of youth culture in this comical assortment. He explains in an introductory note that, as a child, he found equal inspiration in Shel Silverstein and rappers, whom he identifies as “the storytellers of the street.” From there, he leads readers into poems such as “Graffiti Dreams,” in which he writes “Lost in my passion, I spray my heart away / I breathe graffiti and dream of a new day,” celebrating street art, which many hold as a key element of hip-hop culture along with the MC, DJ and B-boy. Sillier poems, such as “Halitosis” and “Funky Feet,” make clever reading opportunities out of the gross-out humor so popular with growing boys. Dedication poems such as “Mateo” and “A Champion Named Ikiaka” add a heartfelt touch. The standout “Weird Concrete” seeks to empower readers to overcome the obstacles of inner-city life.
A collection well-suited to young boys of color as well as all young fans of hip-hop culture, who often long for family-friendly content. (Poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-72281-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing.
Both technique and imaginative impulse can be found in this useful selection of poems about the literary art.
Starting with the essentials of the English language, the letters of “Our Alphabet,” the collection moves through 21 other poems of different types, meters, and rhyme schemes. This anthology has clear classroom applications, but it will also be enjoyed by individual readers who can pore carefully over playful illustrations filled with diverse children, butterflies, flowers, books, and pieces of writing. Tackling various parts of the writing process, from “How To Begin” through “Revision Is” to “Final Edit,” the poems also touch on some reasons for writing, like “Thank You Notes” and “Writing About Reading.” Some of the poems are funny, as in the quirky, four-line “If I Were an Octopus”: “I’d grab eight pencils. / All identical. / I’d fill eight notebooks. / One per tentacle.” An amusing undersea scene dominated by a smiling, orangy octopus fills this double-page spread. Some of the poems are more focused (and less lyrical) than others, such as “Final Edit” with its ending stanzas: “I check once more to guarantee / all is flawless as can be. / Careless errors will discredit / my hard work. / That’s why I edit. / But I don’t like it. / There I said it.” At least the poet tries for a little humor in those final lines.
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-362-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Some issues with design and tone but a mostly worthy appreciation of the women who stood and stand (if, sometimes, only...
“We know Eleanor Roosevelt, Abigail Adams, / but what about those other madams”?
For each first lady from Martha Washington (“Raised to be a planter’s wife, / taught how one behaves / as mistress of the household / and the household slaves”) to immigrant Melania Trump, Singer offers a thumbnail character study in verse that’s paired to an ink-and-wash figure by Carpenter. If there is any common theme, it’s mortality: Martha Jefferson, who died 19 years before her husband’s election, is represented by a framed silhouette over a silent pianoforte; Peggy Taylor lies prostrate before a tombstone; a veiled Jackie Kennedy looks out from an antique TV screen. Singer likewise often includes mention of lost husbands or children among references to favored causes and personal accomplishments. On the other hand, Mary Todd Lincoln, generously summed up as “an unlucky woman—kindly and cursed,” poses regally as her brown-skinned dressmaker (unnamed in the poem but identified in the endnotes) cuts up an American flag to make a gown while Abe stands nearby, gaping comically at a sheaf of bills. Brief profiles at the end add some detail but mostly just recap the poems’ content, and a pictorial timeline on the rear endpapers would serve as an index if the jacket flap didn’t cover a good portion of it.
Some issues with design and tone but a mostly worthy appreciation of the women who stood and stand (if, sometimes, only figuratively) next to the presidents. (Poetry/collective biography. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2660-0
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
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