African American Literature

 

A. Bibliography

Pinkney, A., & Pinkney, B. (2007). ELLA FITZGERALD: THE TALE OF A VOCAL VIRTUOSA. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0786805686

 

B.  Plot Summary

Ella Fitzgerald began her life as a singer on the stage of the Apollo Theater when she was just seventeen years old. Her rich voice and vocal innovations brought her fame and a remarkable career that spanned half a century and won her generations of fans around the world. Acclaimed author Andrea Davis Pinkney has told Ella's inspiring story in the voice of Scat Cat Monroe, a feline fan whose imagined narrative sings with the infectious rhythms of scat. Two-time Caldecott Honor winner Brian Pinkney's dramatic perspectives and fantastical images offer a jazzy improvisation all their own.

 

 

C.  Critical Analysis

Purple is used as a signature color throughout the book. The cover of the book depicts Ella Fitzgerald in a beautiful purple dress along with a purple background. The doll is also depicted in a purple dress as well. The use of narrator Scat Cat Monroe as a device to engage children is successful especially due to his use of language. The rhymes and rhythms the authors adopt to tell the story echo the snazziness of the music at the time. The characters’ clothing is appropriate for the time period. The features on the characters, which are African American with the exception of the cat, are all appropriate as well. The book goes through stages of Ella’s life and musical career. The Pinkney's biography on Ella Fitzgerald is a delightful read for young children who want to learn more about the talented jazz artist.

 

D. Review Excerpts

Publishers Weekly: The talented husband-and-wife team behind Duke Ellington turns to jazz biography once again, this time showcasing the First Lady of Song. Narrated by Scat Cat Monroe, a feline in a zoot suit, the book spins four "tracks" on Fitzgerald's life, from her childhood in Yonkers performing on street corners, to her discovery at a 1934 talent contest at the legendary Apollo Theatre to her move into the "ping-pong rhythms" of bebop. Whether swinging at the Savoy "to a house packed tighter than the A train" or breaking the racial barrier at many clubs ("Ella's popularity showed them that a true star has no color—it just shines"), the singer's career is expertly framed to fit a picture book format. The prose, while occasionally labored, swings to a syncopated beat and piles on the synesthesia ("Ella rolled out a tune sweet enough to bake"; "Her voice was quick-fried rhythm, with a brassy satin twist"). Brian Pinkney turns out some of his best work yet. Rendered in a pleasingly high-contrast palette of pastels, the scratchboard illustrations are invested with magical realism, complete with dancers flying off the pages and topsy-turvy musicians. A particularly memorable spread about Ella's hit "How High the Moon" launches her into space on a trumpet with Dizzy Gillespie. A "skippity-hop-doo-dee-bop" picture book. Ages 5-9.

 

A Mighty Girl: Acclaimed author Andrea Davis Pinkney has told Ella's inspiring story in the voice of Scat Cat Monroe, a feline fan whose imagined narrative sings with the infectious rhythms of scat. Two-time Caldecott Honor winner Brian Pinkney's dramatic perspectives and fantastical images offer a jazzy improvisation all their own.

 

E. Connections

You might like these books about African American Jazz Artists:

Pinkney, Andrea. DUKE ELLINGTON: THE PIANO PRINCE AND HIS ORCHESTRA. ISBN: 978-0786814206

Raschka,Chris. CHARLIE PARKER PLAYED BE BOP. ISBN: 978-0531070956

 

Andrews, Troy. TROMBONE SHORTY. ISBN:978-1419714658

 

 

 

A. Bibliography

Woodson, Jacqueline. BROWN GIRL DREAMING. New York, Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014. ISBN 978-0399252518

 

B.  Plot Summary

In this free verse memoir, Jacqueline Woodson relates her childhood experiences as a young African American girl growing up in the 1960s. Jacqueline was born in Ohio, the youngest child of three, in 1963, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Jacqueline and her family are African-American. Her father, Jack, is from Ohio, and her Mama, Mary Ann, is from South Carolina. Prior to Jacqueline’s birth and the birth of her sister Odella, Mama lost her brother, Odell.

 

C.  Critical Analysis 

Brown Girl Dreaming is a beautifully written memoir of a young African American girl growing up in the 1960s in both the North and the South. Because this is an honest free verse novel, the characters are authentic and not stereotyped and reflect distinct cultural experiences with distinct realities during the Civil Rights Movement.. Since the personal narrative is rich in cultural details, there are several cultural markers that are consistent with the historical time period and African American culture such as accounts and references of marches, sit-in protests, Freedom Riders, President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, and civil rights. Moreover, the short vignettes of sitting in the back of the bus due to a “Coloreds to the Back” sign and the burning of a high school because of the marches add to the authenticity of the story as well as accurately depict African American history.

The theme is about family memories, it invites readers to reflect on their own childhood memories as well as on the similarities and differences between their families and Jacqueline’s family. This first person memoir also celebrates diversity in the accounts where Jacqueline interacts with the Hispanic culture and the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith. As for the illustrations in this book, the two family trees and black and white photographs of herself and her relatives from both sides of her family are accurate portrayals of African American culture in regards to physical characteristics. Through these illustrations, readers are able to easily follow along with the author as she shares personal details about her life and her family.

 

 D. Review Excerpts

Kirkus Reviews: “Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.”

The Horn Book: “A memoir-in-verse so immediate that readers will feel they are experiencing the author’s childhood right along with her.”

Publishers Weekly: “The writer’s passion for stories and storytelling permeates the memoir.”

 

 E. Connections

Check out other books by Jacqueline Woodson:

ANOTHER BROOKLYN: A NOVEL. ISBN 978-0062359988

HUSH. ISBN 978-0142415511

LOCOMOTION. ISBN 978-0142415528

 

A. Bibliography

Bryan, Ashley. BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD. New York, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2003. ISBN 978-0689847318

 

B.  Plot Summary

Long ago, Blackbird was voted the most beautiful bird in the forest. The other birds, who were colored red, yellow, blue, and green, were so envious that they begged Blackbird to paint their feathers with a touch of black so they could be beautiful too. Although Blackbird warns them that true beauty comes from within, the other birds persist and soon each is given a ring of black around their neck or a dot of black on their wings markings that detail birds to this very day. Coretta Scott King Award-winner Ashley Bryan's adaptation of a tale from the Ila-speaking people of Zambia resonates both with rhythm and the tale's universal meanings -- appreciating one's heritage and discovering the beauty within. His cut-paper artwork is a joy.

 

C.  Critical Analysis 

The story is a Zambian tale, and the setting is a lake surrounded by trees in Africa and the characters are birds of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Only two birds are named which are Ringdove and Blackbird. Ringdove is the bird who calls all the birds from all over to meet for a festival and is the first to plead Blackbird for a bit of his blackening. Blackbird is the only black bird of all the birds in the gathering and is admired for his unique blackness. All the other birds with distinct characteristics and attributes interact with Blackbird by singing him praises and asking also for some of his blackening. Although the story is not rich in cultural details, it does include two cultural markers. In the story, the blackless birds dance the Beak and Wing Dance, the Show Claws Dance, the Sun-Up Dance, and the Sun-Down Dance. Since the bird dances are illustrated with the birds circling around Blackbird, it is a cultural marker of African culture because this form of dance is at times seen in some traditional African dances. Another cultural marker in the story is the use of rhymes and sound effects that produce rhythm, which usually accompany African dances.

The theme is a celebration of diversity, uniqueness, and individual beauty, the story invites readers to reflect in-depth and value their own inner beauty and differentness. The illustrations in this book correlate well with the theme of the story because they are colorfully appealing with bright and bold colors. The cutouts of the birds are all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, and black, which once again stresses the message that different is beautiful. The illustrations are also accurate portrayals of African culture because the environment is depicted with cutouts of trees and a lake and the dances are pictured with the birds dancing around in a circle like traditional African dances.

D. Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: “This unusual and little-known pourquoi tale may supplement larger collections and serves as a thoughtful and entertaining addition to units on self-esteem.”

Publishers Weekly: “Bryan’s lilting and magical language is infectious.”

Booklist: “Ready-made for participative storytelling.”

 

E. Connections

Check out these other books by Ashley Bryan:

CAN’T SCARE ME! ISBN 978-1442476578

THE NIGHT HAS EARS: AFRICAN PROVERBS. ISBN 978-0689824272

WHO BUILT THE STABLE? A NATIVITY POEM. ISBN 978-1442409347

 

A. Bibliography

Williams-Garcia, R. (2011). ONE CRAZY SUMMER. Quill Tree Books.

ISBN 978-0060760885

 

 

B.  Plot Summary

In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

 

C.  Critical Analysis 

One Crazy Summer is told from the first-person point of view of Delphine who is the oldest of the three sisters. She is dependable and takes care of her sisters taking on the motherly role for the girls. This book is about family, hope, and love. The girls stick together and are there for each other.  Even when met with adversity, the girls hold their heads high and act right.  They are rejected by their mother, but they hope to know her somehow. 

Williams-Garcia’s style articulately illustrates a child’s perspective growing up during a time where there is racial tension.  This book has an authenticity that would parallel some of the issues we are having today.  In the Acknowledgements, Williams-Garcia wrote that she “read books, articles, and interviews that cover this period.  I specifically could not have felt the climate of the times from the Black Panther accounts and perspective without David Hilliard’s The Blank Panther Intercommunal News Service.”

I really enjoyed this book because it was a story about children coping with change.  If anyone has ever had a tumultuous relationship with their mother, the book will grab their heart and twist a little.

 

 

D. Review Excerpts

Kirkus Review: Each girl has a distinct response to her motherless state, and Williams-Garcia provides details that make each characterization crystal clear. The depiction of the time is well done, and while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page.

 

School Library Journal: “With memorable characters (all three girls have engaging, strong voices) and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading.”

 

 

E. Connections

Readers who enjoyed this book may also enjoy:

 

McKissack, P. & Pinkney, J. GOIN’ SOMEPLACE SPECIAL.  ISBN 978-0689818851

 

Hoffman, M. AMAZING GRACE. ISBN 978-0803710405

 

Crews, D. BIGMAMA’S.  ISBN 978-0688158422