Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat

With appeal for preliterate children, their great-grandparents, and every generation between, this will be fun for families to share as they get their groove on. 

Like its companion volume, "Poetry Speaks to Children", this eclectic collection is accompanied by a lively CD; the focus is on hip-hop, broadly defined as poetry with a beat. In practice, Giovannis definition yields a diverse crop of poems chiefly by African-Americans. Not all the works have a strong beat: the quiet lyricism of Hope Anita Smith has little in common with the pronounced rhythms of the Sugarhill Gang. The volume includes not only contemporary artists like Mos Def and Queen Latifah but poets from the Harlem Renaissance, W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Elizabeth Swados. Even an edited version of Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream speech is offered. Altogether, there are 51 selections from 42 poets, with about 30 performances on the CD, some original to the collection. The illustrations, by six different artists, compete for attention in a crowded design; readers may be better off availing themselves of the CD, which, with its archival recordings of poems read by the poets themselves, reminds everyone that poetry springs from an oral tradition. Ages 6up. "(Oct.)" Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

Gr 48This anthology highlights the use of rhythm and vernacular in hip-hop, rap, and African-American poetry. The 51 pieceswhich also include a passage from Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speechuse gospel rhythms, "hambone" rhythms (which Giovanni explains in her informative introduction), jazz and blues rhythms, and language from the fields and the city streets. Artists range from Langston Hughes to Kanye West, from Eloise Greenfield to Queen Latifah. Much of the subject matter focuses on hope, self-esteem, respect for the past, and determination to make a better future. A few selections are more playful, like an excerpt from "Principal's Office" by Young MC. The accompanying CD enables readers to hear many of the pieces spoken or performed by the artists. Meanwhile, a team of five illustrators provides colorful, lively pictures that add atmosphere and personality (without a lot of depth, however). This volume is much denser than it first appears, and will provide classroom teachers with a substantial amount of material. The fact that an important historical writer like James Weldon Johnson appears in the same book as contemporary musician Lauryn Hill may help some kids see the older writers with a fresh eye, and may also introduce today's artists to teachers and librarians. Granted, not all of the rap and/or hip-hop verses have the concise nature of what has been considered "real" poetry, and, in this context, some of them work better in audio than on the printed page. Still, this is an interesting, worthwhile collection."Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL" Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

With appeal for preliterate children, their great grandparents, and every generation between, this will be fun for families to share as they get their groove on.