The World Belonged to Us
by Jacqueline Woodson (Author) Leo Espinosa (Illustrator)
Two children's book superstars join forces to celebrate the joy and freedom of summer in the city, which is gloriously captured in Jacqueline Woodson's rhythmic text and Leo Espinosa's lively art.
It's getting hot outside, hot enough to turn on the hydrants and run through the water--and that means it's finally summer in the city! Released from school and reveling in their freedom, the kids on one Brooklyn block take advantage of everything summertime has to offer. Freedom from morning till night to go out to meet their friends and make the streets their playground--jumping double Dutch, playing tag and hide-and-seek, building forts, chasing ice cream trucks, and best of all, believing anything is possible. That is, till their moms call them home for dinner. But not to worry--they know there is always tomorrow to do it all over again--because the block belongs to them and they rule their world.
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Publishers Weekly
Written from within a community of friends, in a voice that often uses "we," lilting, intimate-feeling lines by Woodson (The Year We Learned to Fly) capture a delicious sense of autonomy and possibility shared "In Brooklyn/ in the summer/ not so long ago," when "the minute/ school ended, us kids were free as air." Pencil and digital art centers blue skies and city landscapes as Espinosa (The Creature of Habit) draws children of varying ages and skin tones bursting from the doors of a school, with 1970s clothing details that are right on the mark. In the hot days that follow, the kids crowd sidewalks and stoops, open hydrants, and play street games with chalk and bottle caps. They also engage in camaraderie and community care, comforting each other after scrapes, noticing each other’s gifts ("We said, You sure can draw... and we meant it"), and sharing an ice cream truck’s bounty, "because some days the ones with no money/ were us." And in this Brooklyn nabe, the kids dream big, because "anything was possible/ when a guy from our block was good enough/ to play for the Mets." Affirming the strengths of shared experiences and power drawn from collective appreciation, the creators show how a childhood can engender joy that follows "everywhere I’d ever go." Ages 5-8.
Copyright 2022 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Kirkus
JUV023000 - Juvenile Fiction | Lifestyles | City & Town Life
JUV074000 - Juvenile Fiction | Diversity & Multicultural
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Summer
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