Gwendolyn grew up in the big city of Chicago with little money to spare. Yet her family owned a great treasure - a bookcase filled with precious poems.
A powerful opening message of a story of inspiration. A story of how a parent's simple act of keeping books, inspires a girl to read, inspires a young woman to write, and inspires a mother to create verse that teaches, informs and reveals our humanity.
Gwendolyn's life was not easy, growing up during the depression and in a culture that would not accept her Black skin. But through the hardship, and never feeling that she fit in, Gwendolyn wrote. She was 11 years old when her first piece was published. She went to college studying great poets. Married with a family, money was tight, so Gwendolyn cleaned houses, but she still wrote. Gwendolyn went on to write 14 books, and the first Black person to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Cozbi A. Cabrera's acrylic paintings, boldly composed and beautifully textured brush strokes, communicate the emotion and action of the text. An "exquisite" book that can inspire any reader, regardless of age. Could be used as an introduction to a unit on poetry or study of Gwendolyn Brook's work.
Mark's Book Picks Score: 4
Reading Level: 4.8 • Interest Level: K-3 • AR Points: 0.5 • Lexile Level: 870L • Publisher: Harry N. Abrams • Pages: 48 • Copyright: 2019 • ISBN: 978-1-419-73411-3 • Available in Perma-Bound Binding
No comments:
Post a Comment