PB Review: Harlem's Historic Neighborhood Sugar Hill

During the month of April, I have been inspired to write with rhythm and rhyme. Angie Karcher’s Rhyming Picture Book Month (#RhyPiBoMo) is a wealth of information. Thanks to the authors, agents and editors who shared their experience and tips. If you haven't followed Angie's blog, then pull up a chair, pour a cup of coffee and click HERE.

This week I focused on the author and poet, Carole Boston Weatherford, who "mines the past for family stories, fading traditions, and forgotten struggles." Many of her books show stories of African-American historical figures and events. Several of her picture books rhyme, like the one I'm reviewing.

Harlem's Historic Neighborhood Sugar Hill

written by Carole Boston Weatherford

illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Published by Albert Whitman & Company, 2014

Book Review

Take a walk through Harlem’s Sugar Hill and meet all the amazing people who made this neighborhood legendary. With upbeat rhyming, read-aloud text, Sugar Hill celebrates the Harlem neighborhood that successful African Americans first called home during the 1920s. 

The back matter includes brief biographies of jazz greats Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, and Miles Davis; artists Aaron Douglas and Faith Ringgold; entertainers Lena Horne and the Nicholas Brothers; writer Zora Neale Hurston; civil rights leader W. E. B. DuBois and lawyer Thurgood Marshall.

The story begins - 
Sugar Hill, Sugar Hill where life is sweet
And the "A" TRAIN stops for the black elite.

My favorite line - 
Where lovely LENA takes Sunday strolls 
that shoot racist notions full of holes.

Watch Carole Boston Weatherford talk about her writing life 

and stories on Reading Rockets.

Picture Books that Go Deep with Fewer Words

I’m continuing to read and study over 100 picture books for Reading For Research Month. It’s amazing how much you’ll learn if you read like a writer. In this post, I wish to focus on three picture books with low word counts, yet their themes go deep. For me, these books are perfect read aloud, mentor texts.

SURF'S UP

written by  Kwame Alexander

illustrated by Daniel Miyares

Pub by NorthSouth Books 2015

This dialogue driven story shows frog friends, Bro and Dude, on a sunny day near the ocean. Bro wants to finish reading his book. But Dude wants to go surfing.
Alexander uses fun language to entice readers to turn the pages and keep reading beyond the last page. 

The story begins - 

SURF’S UP, BRO!             
Not yet, Dude.

A few pages into the story, Bro brings Dude into his book by expressing -

WOWIE KAZOWIE!
WHOA, DADDY-O          

THE RACE

written & Illustrated by Édouard Manceau

Pub by Owlkids Books 2014

Caribou line up for a high spirited race. It doesn't take more than a page turn for some caribou to play unkind tricks in order to win the race. But as they battle for victory, one caribou stops to question what the point is to outrun the next guy. What does it mean to win?

The story begins - 

It begins with a guy, a can of paint, and a paintbrush.

A few pages into the story, most of the caribou are in the race to win.

Quitting is not an option!

Once they're patched up,
the banana-peel survivors hit the ground running.

GREEN LIZARDS VS. RED RECTANGLES

written & Illustrated by Steve Antony

Pub by Hachette Children's Books 2015

With far fewer words, this story is reminiscent of "The Sneetches" by Dr. Seuss. One group is at war with another group for no reason. Us VS Them. Nothing more.

The story begins - 

The Green Lizards and the Red Rectangles were at war.

A few pages into the story, one brave lizard asks: 
WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

But he was SQUASHED, and this led to 

THE BIGGEST WAR EVER.

Until . . . 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! said one Red Rectangle.