“Open wide your arms to life, / Whirl in the wind of pain and strife, / Face the wall with the dark closed gate, / Beat with bare, brown fists – / And wait.” page 29 (excerpt from poem “Song”)
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Originally published in 1932 by Alfred A. Knopf, my edition Scholastic, New York, 1994. Poetry collection, 84 pages. Lexile: 1150L . AR Level: Not leveled.
Langston Hughes’ own selection and arrangement of his poems for young readers.
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
It’s books like this one that especially point out the lie that early literary education is not able to be diverse. Although my particular version was published in the early 90s, this book has been around since 1932!
The book opens with an introductory essay by Lee Bennett Hopkins, which succinctly summarizes the key points of Hughes’ life. It is skippable, but does add valuable context for those who choose to read it.
“We could have plenty of fun then, except that now we have two grown-ups telling us no instead of only one.” page 7
A Wave in Her Pocket: Stories From Trinidad by Lynn Joseph, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Clarion, Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1991. MG stories, 52 pages. Not leveled.
A collection of Trinidadan stories tied together by the narrator Amber, and her incredible Tantie who tells these tales to her and her cousins.
A Wave in Her Pocket by Lynn Joseph, illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
First I must make a note on the classification, because these books are the sort that would wake me in the middle of the night back when I did cataloging for school libraries. Joseph is retelling 6 different Trinidadan stories, but she uses the conceit of a first-person narrator, and formats them similarly to short stories. This method is very effective, but much like Kadir Nelson’s famous Heart and Soul, raises the question on where they should be shelved.
In fact, I am not the first librarian to feel conflicted by this dilemma, as the copyright page has the Library of Congress suggesting PZ for juvenile fiction, and a Dewey Decimal Classification of 398.2 under folklore. One can make a reasonable case for this book either way, so if you happen to be a librarian Googling, shelve this wherever you think it’s likely to circulate best, and don’t hesitate to recatalog if needed!
Luckily, I no longer have to worry about how to catalog these types of books and can shelve items wherever I please in my home library. This book contains fantasy, horror, and historical fiction within a realistic fiction framework, although most likely to appeal to students who like speculative fiction or mythology with some creepiness.
Did you know that six members of the Pinkney family are artists, authors, or publishers?
I’m going to hope that everyone with an interest in diverse children’s books has at least heard of Jerry Pinkney. However, did you know that much of the rest of his family is involved in art or literature as well?
Brian Pinkney tackles bravery and Tae Kwon Do in this picture book about a girl with two big problems.
JoJo’s Flying Side Kick by Brian Pinkney.
First published by Simon and Schuster, 1995.
My edition Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Picture book, 32 pages.
Lexile: 590L .
AR Level: 3.2 (worth 0.5 points) .
NOTE: This is a work of fiction, although I’m not reviewing it on Fiction Friday.
JoJo’s happy living with her mother and grandfather and practicing Tae Kwon Do with her friends. But she has two big problems. The first is the scary tree at the end of her driveway, and the second is her yellow belt test, where she needs to break a board with her foot.
Pretty much I have the whole Pinkney family on auto-buy because there hasn’t been one of their books I’ve disliked yet. They are usually a hit with students as well. This is not the most popular one but a very solid addition to the Pinkney canon.
Our 44th board book has a wonderful message for brown-skinned toddlers.
Pretty Brown Face by Andrea and Brian Pinkney.
Red Wagon Books, Harcourt, 1997.
Board book, 16 pages.
A young child discovers the wonders of fir own face.
This simple but well made book is sure to appeal to a wide variety of families and childcare professionals. There are only two characters – a small child encountering a mirror and a male caregiver (presumably father, but never named as such). At first I assumed the child was male, but no pronouns or male references are used, so this book could work nicely for a child of either gender.
This picture book has been a staple of classroom celebrations for more than a decade.
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by J. Brian Pinkney.
Scholastic, New York, 1993.
Picture book nonfiction, 28 pages.
Lexile: 800L
AR Level: 4.2 (worth 0.5 points)
This simple text describes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and death to help children understand why we celebrate on the third Monday of January. It is titled Happy Birthday because originally MLK day was on January 15th to commemorate his birthday, but it became a move-able celebration when it became a federal holiday.
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by J. Brian Pinkney
Here we have an all-star team who really know their audience and work splendidly together. Marzollo is best known these days for her I Spy books, and prolific illustrator (and sometime author) Brian Pinkney has many books about African-American history and culture.
Colorful Book Reviews 