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Words with wings : a treasury of African-American poetry and art
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J 811.008 WOR
HarperCollins,, c2001.
1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 29 cm.
 
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Howe Library J 811.008 WOR Children's nonfiction Available
Syndetic Solutions - The Horn Book Review for ISBN Number 0060293632
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
by Rochelle, Belinda
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The Horn Book Review

Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art

The Horn Book


(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This collection encompasses the work of two generations of poets, including Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove, and Robert Hayden. The poems deal with a range of experience and each is skillfully paired with artwork--paintings, sculpture, collage--by both well-known (Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett) and less familiar artists. Biographical notes on the poets and artists are appended. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Syndetic Solutions - Publishers Weekly Review for ISBN Number 0060293632
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
by Rochelle, Belinda
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Publishers Weekly Review

Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art

Publishers Weekly


(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

HIn this stunning collection, Rochelle's (Witness to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights) 20 pairings of painting and poems, culled from 19th- and 20th-century African-American artists and poets, are nearly as inspired as the works themselves. In one spread, Langston Hughes's "Aunt Sue's Stories" tells of a child listening to Aunt Sue's own experiences of "Black slaves/ Working in the hot sun,/ And black slaves/ Walking in the dewy night." Opposite, Elizabeth Catlett's print Sharecropper portrays a gracefully aging woman, her face a haunting mixture of wisdom and warmth. Alice Walker's "Women," a poem about the path women forged to freedom "With fists as well as/ Hands/ How they battered down/ Doors" and "knew what we/ Must know/ Without knowing a page/ Of it/ Themselves," is juxtaposed with William H. Johnson's Harriet Tubman wearing an American flag, its stars fallen on the ground (it is also the volume's cover image). These pairings examine not only sweeping history but also intimate domestic moments, such as Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays," a child's reflection on the father he (or she) never thanked for rising in the "blueblack cold" to make a fire before waking the child ("What did I know, what I did know/ of love's austere and lonely offices?"). Opposite, Henry Ossawa Tanner's Thankful Poor, a glorious oil painting of father and child, depicts their two heads bowed in prayer at the table, bathed in golden light. Regardless of topic, the works focus consistently on the virtues of strength, courage and determination. Elegant and thoughtful design elements shape the volume into a unified whole despite the varied styles of the paintings and poems included, and Rochelle's superb selections and endnotes on the authors and artists make this a collection to be treasured. All ages. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Syndetic Solutions - BookList Review for ISBN Number 0060293632
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
by Rochelle, Belinda
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BookList Review

Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art

Booklist


From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

Gr. 4^-up. In her eloquent introduction to this large-size anthology, Rochelle says that art lets us "look at private moments without interrupting them." Her great selections do just that. Each of the 20 poems is opposite a painting reproduced in splendid color. All are by well-known writers and artists, both classic and contemporary. The poets range from Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen to Alice Walker, and the artists include Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, and more. The art doesn't overwhelm the words because there's no attempt to make a literal connection. Nikki Giovanni's heartbreaking "Legacies" is opposite Horace Pippin's Saying Prayers; both show that a grandparent and child cannot express their love, "and I guess nobody ever does." Lucille Clifton's poem "Auction Street" is opposite Jacob Lawrence's painting Community. At the back of the book are short notes on each poet and artist. For children and older readers, this is a stirring book that will take them up close to private moments and also extend their view of themselves. --Hazel Rochman

Syndetic Solutions - School Library Journal Review for ISBN Number 0060293632
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
by Rochelle, Belinda
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School Library Journal Review

Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art

School Library Journal


(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 4-8-Rochelle's compilation of 20 poems by a dozen writers is accompanied by large-scale reproductions of the work of 17 artists. Each colorful spread pairs a poem and painting in various layouts. Though in a few cases the words seem shunted to the corners, most of the combinations are stunning. Pairs like Countee Cullen's "Incident" with Lev. T. Mills's Gemini I or Langston Hughes's "My People" with Aaron Douglas's Into Bondage reveal a close attention to the emotional impact in each-the poems and paintings feed off one another almost chemically. Almost all of the selections are from the 20th century, and many contemporary poets are represented, including Lucille Clifton, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Walker, Rita Dove, Nikki Giovanni, and E. Ethelbert Miller. The selection complements Catherine Clinton's I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry (Houghton, 1998), which provides a broader chronological range of poets, and which shares only three poems with this title. Rochelle's volume is more immediate and personal; yet, as she quotes Georgia Douglas Johnson in her introduction: "Your world is as big as you make it"-and she provides readers with a wide view. Short biographical paragraphs on each poet and artist round out this moving presentation.-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Syndetic Solutions - Kirkus Review for ISBN Number 0060293632
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
by Rochelle, Belinda
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Kirkus Review

Words with Wings : A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art

Kirkus Reviews


Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Compiler Rochelle (Jewels, 1998, etc.) envisioned this project as a way to help youngsters release their “own creative energy” even as they confront the “work, pain, love, anger, regret” endemic to the human experience. In general this is a welcoming and welcome volume, an ambitious pairing of some 20 inspiring poems with quality reproductions of handsome work by significant African-American artists. Rochelle includes 17 poets, including such greats as Angelou, Braithewaite, Brooks Clifton, Cullen, Dove, Dunbar, Giovanni, Hayden, Hughes, Johnson, Jordan, and Walker. Old favorites include: Langston Hughes’s “My People” and Lucille Clifton’s “Listen Children.” The illustration choices mostly reflect 19th- and early-20th-century artists like Henry Ossawa Tanner and Charles Dawson, or mid-century painters like Romare Bearden, Horace Pippin, and Hughie Lee-Smith. Unfortunately, the book’s overly busy design seriously detracts from the art reproductions and often diminishes the text. The paintings are stunning enough to be viewed without decorative embellishments. Particularly annoying is a black and white stripey tail that curves around and under Lucille Clifton’s “Auction Street” and its paired, powerful, painting—Jacob Lawrence’s “Community.” Riflescope-like spots decorate the black page that includes Countee Cullen’s “ Incident” and distressingly distracts from Lev T. Mills’s affecting sepia-toned image of a young boy, chin in hand, considering his life and his community. Though backmatter is included, it is, sadly, too brief to be of use for the reader who wants to know more about the poets and the artists Rochelle highlights. There is little or no substantive information about the writers, the original sources and dates of the poetry, or the medium, dimension, and dates of the reproduced art. However, despite these limitations, families and libraries hungry for more information and inspiration on African-American themes will want to own this as a beginning. Words with Wings will soar year round—not just during Black History month. (Picture book/poetry. All ages)

 
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