BRIAN PINKNEY ILLUSTRATED BOOK
Ella Fitzgerald, the tale of a vocal virtuosa
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pinkney, Andrea Davis. 2002. ELLA FITZGERALD: THE TALE OF A VOCAL VIRTUOSA. Ill. by Brian Pinkney. New York: Hyperion Books. ISBN: 0786805684.
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Andrea Davis and Brian Pinkney collaborated to create an illustrated biography of Ella Fitzgerald for young children. The story is told in the voice of Scat Cat Monroe, a jazz cat who talks like the cool cats of the time, mimicking Ella’s scat singing style.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In this amazing collaboration between Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, children are exposed to the amazing Ella Fitzgerald as well as other jazz luminaries like Chick Webb, Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie. In the author description on the back jacket flap, we learn that Andrea Davis Pinkney is the founding editor of Jump at the Sun books, which is an imprint of books “celebrating the African American life and culture.” She and Brian Pinkney have accomplished exactly that in this beautifully illustrated and well-told story. One doesn’t need to be a huge jazz fan or have a great knowledge of the art form to appreciate this book, which chronicles the career of one of the most amazing American vocalists.
Ella’s story is told by a cool cat in a zoot suit who speaks, “scat”. Children and adults are immediately drawn into the story by Scat Cat Monroe’s introduction:
"You may think I look like any other cat. But, baby, I’m in a class all by myself. Scat Cat’s my name. Scat Cat Monroe. A name I’ve earned. Got my name from knowin’ Ella. Ella Fitzgerald. The Queen of Scat. What’s Scat? You ask. Scats the sound that don’t hold back. Ella’s sound-that was scat. Singing so supreme. Music’s velvet-ribbon dream.”
The vibrant illustrations combined with the musical language of the text create a book that feels alive! Brian Pinkney explains in a brief note at the end of the book that he was inspired by the works of several Harlem Renaissance artists who were contemporaries of Ella Fitzgerald. He credits the specific artists and explains that he appreciated how William H. Johnson “so beautifully depicted black people.” This book is a shining example of one that celebrates the culture by highlighting the amazing accomplishments of African American artists as well as their enduring contributions to the world.
Young children will be dazzled by Pinkney’s paintings, which were created on scratchboard, black ink, transparent luma dyes, and acrylic paints. The effect is brilliant colors, which Pinkney describes as “the color palette of the Art Deco movement, which was in vogue during Ella’s youth.”
In the part of the story where Chick Webb’s orchestra is introduced, the illustrations cover a two page spread where Chick Webb and his musicians swing on swings suspended from the turquoise sky playing their instruments. Of course the music they’re playing is swing.
When Bebop music is introduced, and Ella meets Dizzy Gillespie, Pinkney’s playful painting shows Ella and Dizzy riding a giant trumpet through a starry night sky with Scat Cat Monroe tailing behind. The playful text is also packed with information:
“Ella went along for Dizzy’s ride. One night, when the two of them started to jam, Ella made bebop her own. For Ella, scat singing drove bebop home. Ella used her voice in the same way Dizzy used the notes he made with his horn-like a runaway leaf flying high on a breeze.” This simple, but at the same time, sophisticated description of jazz singing, is one example of the brilliance of this biography. Pinkney uses the image of a “runaway leaf flying high on a breeze,” to describe a bebop melody. This is just one example of the many brilliant ways in which the text and the illustrations help to create a vibrant and informative picture book. The scat dialect that the cat speaks in and the rhythm and cadence in the language lend an authentic tone to the book and mirror the playful rhythm of both swing and bebop.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTSSchool Library Journal: "This beautifully rendered tribute to the "Vocal Virtuosa" will be a welcome addition in all libraries."
Publisher's Weekly: " The lengthy text, filled with jazzy colloquialisms, keeps its focus solidly on the music, describing the thrill of Fitzgerald's performances in language that rhymes and slides with the swinging beat of its subject and places readers at the center of the action."
5. CONNECTIONS
This book can be used in a Jazz themed preschool story time with Ella's song "A Tisket a-Tasket." A great way to introduce kids not only to an amazing artist, but the history of Jazz music, and the period in Harlem when the arts were flourishing.
Publisher's Weekly: " The lengthy text, filled with jazzy colloquialisms, keeps its focus solidly on the music, describing the thrill of Fitzgerald's performances in language that rhymes and slides with the swinging beat of its subject and places readers at the center of the action."
5. CONNECTIONS
This book can be used in a Jazz themed preschool story time with Ella's song "A Tisket a-Tasket." A great way to introduce kids not only to an amazing artist, but the history of Jazz music, and the period in Harlem when the arts were flourishing.
A Jacqueline Woodson Novel
Locomotion
A 2003 National Book Award Finalist
A Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book
An ALA notable book
1.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Woodson, Jacqueline. 2003. LOCOMOTION. New York: Penguin.
ISBN: 0142401498.
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Lonnie Collins Motion, a.k.a, Locomotion, lost both of his parents in an apartment fire. With no relatives willing to take him and his sister in, they are sent to separate foster families. Through poems written in his classroom under the tutelage of his beloved teacher, Lonnie works through his grief.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Kirkus Review: "Count on award-winning Woodson to present readers with a moving, lyrical and completely convincing novel in verse."
Publishers Weekly: "Woodson, through Lonnie, creates (much as Sharon Creech did with the boy narrator in Love That Dog) a contagious appreciation for poetry while using the genre as a cathartic means for expressing the young poet's own grief. Ages 10-up."
5. CONNECTIONS
This would be an excellent novel to pair with Pearl S. Buck's novel, The Big Wave. The very obvious difference between the novels is the fact that Buck writes about the a rural Japanese family as an outsider. However, like Woodson, she addresses the grief of a child who has lost his family in a tsunami, and the influence of the healing power that love and the passage of time has on the character's ability to move on with his life.
Locomotion
A 2003 National Book Award Finalist
A Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book
An ALA notable book
1.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Woodson, Jacqueline. 2003. LOCOMOTION. New York: Penguin.
ISBN: 0142401498.
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Lonnie Collins Motion, a.k.a, Locomotion, lost both of his parents in an apartment fire. With no relatives willing to take him and his sister in, they are sent to separate foster families. Through poems written in his classroom under the tutelage of his beloved teacher, Lonnie works through his grief.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Jacqueline Woodson’s novel about an eleven-year-old boy’s expression of his sadness over the loss of his parents is a difficult story to get through without shedding tears. In fact it was impossible for me. The novel is set in Brooklyn in Ms. Marcus’ 5th grade classroom. Lonnie’s story is revealed through a series of poems assigned to him. Some are light and funny observations of his school friends, or his feelings about math, but most are poignant memories of his parents before the fire took their lives, and his little sister Lili who lives with a different foster family. The cultural markers that connect the story to African American culture, are the language, the humor, the support from the church community, the expression of affection from his parents, the strength and comfort Ms. Edna, Lonnie’s foster mother, gets from her faith, and the physical descriptions that Lonnie gives of himself, his sister and his friends. In one of the more lighthearted poems in the the book, Lonnie writes about his friends:
“Hey Dog”
“Hey Dog!
That’s how you call your boys.
Hey Dog. You want to hoop?
Then you and your dogs are throwing
The ball around and talking about
Girls and ballplayers and stuff
Your’re gonna have one day
A red car
Some slamming kicks
A shearling coat
A pocket full of money
A pretty girl
A satellite dish and cable
On and on you and your dogs”
One of the most poignant poems is the one where Lonnie goes to the drug store just so he can smell the talc powder that his mother use to use:
Some days, like today
And yesterday and probably
Tomorrow-all my missing gets jumbled up inside of me.
You know honey suckle talc powder:
Mama used to smell like that. She told me
Honeysuckle’s really a flower but all I know
Is the powder that smells like Mama.
Sometimes when the missing gets real bad
I got to the drugstore and before the guard starts
Following me around like I’m gonna steal something
I go to the cosmetics lady and ask her if she has it.
When she says yeah, I say
Can I smell it to see if it’s the right one?
Even though the cosmetics ladies roll their eyes at me
They let me smell it.
And for those few seconds, Mama’s alive again
And I’m remembering
All kinds of good things about her like
The way she laughed at my jokes
Even when they were dumb
And the way she sometimes just grabbed me
And hugged me before
I had a chance to get away….”
Any child who has ever experienced loss and the longing for a parent or family member will respond to this novel. For "outsiders" this novel offers an exposure to the lifestyle of a young urban black child, the rapport he shares with his friends, the hip hop and rap music they listen to, the food he eats, the ways his parents expressed their love and affection, the ways in which he moves about the city. Some things may go unnoticed by readers outside of the culture, like when Lonnie mentions about using lotion so that "..I don't look ashy," or "Ten cornrows with zigzag parts like Sprewell's.."
In the end, Lonnie's grief doesn't magically disappear, but the reader gets the sense that his burden has lifted slightly; that with the love and support of his friends, his teacher, his foster family and his sister, he can manage his grief and move back into enjoying and living his life.
4.REVIEW EXCERPTSAny child who has ever experienced loss and the longing for a parent or family member will respond to this novel. For "outsiders" this novel offers an exposure to the lifestyle of a young urban black child, the rapport he shares with his friends, the hip hop and rap music they listen to, the food he eats, the ways his parents expressed their love and affection, the ways in which he moves about the city. Some things may go unnoticed by readers outside of the culture, like when Lonnie mentions about using lotion so that "..I don't look ashy," or "Ten cornrows with zigzag parts like Sprewell's.."
In the end, Lonnie's grief doesn't magically disappear, but the reader gets the sense that his burden has lifted slightly; that with the love and support of his friends, his teacher, his foster family and his sister, he can manage his grief and move back into enjoying and living his life.
Kirkus Review: "Count on award-winning Woodson to present readers with a moving, lyrical and completely convincing novel in verse."
Publishers Weekly: "Woodson, through Lonnie, creates (much as Sharon Creech did with the boy narrator in Love That Dog) a contagious appreciation for poetry while using the genre as a cathartic means for expressing the young poet's own grief. Ages 10-up."
5. CONNECTIONS
This would be an excellent novel to pair with Pearl S. Buck's novel, The Big Wave. The very obvious difference between the novels is the fact that Buck writes about the a rural Japanese family as an outsider. However, like Woodson, she addresses the grief of a child who has lost his family in a tsunami, and the influence of the healing power that love and the passage of time has on the character's ability to move on with his life.
A NOVEL BY WALTER DEAN MYERS
Street Love
1.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Myers, Walter Dean. 2006. STREET LOVE. New York: HarperTeen. ISBN: 9780060280802
2. PLOT SUMMARY
A novel in verse about two Harlem teenagers who fall in love. His mother is busy planning a successful future for him; while her mother begins a twenty-year prison sentence.
A novel in verse about two Harlem teenagers who fall in love. His mother is busy planning a successful future for him; while her mother begins a twenty-year prison sentence.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Walter Dean Myers explains in the “extras” section in the back of the book, that most of his stories are informed and inspired by his own life experiences. For example, like the main characters, Damien and Junice, Myers grew up in Harlem, he played basketball in the neighborhoods, he had a relative who was incarcerated, and he fell in love. The authenticity of his novel cannot be disputed. Violet Harris, a scholar in African American children’s literature has identified common themes in contemporary African American literature. Family loyalty and obligations, consequences of drug and alcohol abuse, under-education, single parenthood, and poverty are a few of these themes that Myers addresses in his novel.
They, their parents, a caseworker, and friends tell Junice and Damien’s story in alternating voices. Language is the main cultural marker in this story, which reads like a blend of hip-hop and a Shakespearean sonnet. Myers wrote in verse that was inspired by his reading of Shakespeare, and by eavesdropping on teenagers on the street. He originally wrote the entire novel in iambic pentameter, but after listening to the way teenagers spoke, he changed the rhythm and meter to match the vernacular he heard on the street.
Damien and Kevin converse about a local thug:
“Yo Damien, how you read Sledge?
Is he just about being a fool
Or do you think that his brain
Is twisted enough to find something
Cool in that lip and drip world he’s sliming
In?”
The language changes, though, when the characters are self-reflecting. The following passage is a sad expression of the tragedy of Junice’s life:
“There were no tracks climbing
Like a silver arrow toward a place called
Future. No friendly tower or friendly faces
Eager for my appearance
No. it is all cycle and recycle
What the great-grandmother had done
Is to rut the earth for her children
What the grandmother has done
Is to widen the furrow for her children
What the mother has done
Is to square the pit
Deepening it for the ritual to come.
And here I sit, grave deep among the
Waiting worms, staking my claim
Junice’s history is bleak indeed. And now that her mother is incarcerated and her grandmother’s mind is ravaged by a lifetime of alcohol and drug abuse, she carries the burden of fear that the state will separate her from her sister. The heaviness she carries within her is intriguing to Damien. His infatuation seems inexplicable to his friends and maybe even to himself. Junice questions it as well: “What can Damien want of me?/Once he smells the sulfur pouring/From my life he will run.”
Damien’s friends and family do not understand his attraction toward this sad young woman. He seems to be magnetically drawn to her, and in the end, gives up his future to be with her.
Street Love, as the titles implies is a novel about the inner city with all of the problems and destructive elements that we hear about on the news. But Myers, in this novel has given readers an opportunity to see beyond the headlines into the hearts and minds of the young lives that endure.
4.REVIEW EXCERPTS
School Library Journal: "This is a quick and satisfying read, simple and timeless."
Booklist: "The realistic drama on the street and at home tells a gripping story. Readers will want to reread the lines they loved."
KLIATT: ""The tale's brevity and evocation of strong emotions will give it appeal to reluctant readers."
KLIATT: ""The tale's brevity and evocation of strong emotions will give it appeal to reluctant readers."
5. CONNECTIONS
This would be a great book to use in a youth at risk book discussion group to discuss rap, poetry, and relationships.
This would be a great book to use in a youth at risk book discussion group to discuss rap, poetry, and relationships.
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