Bronzeville Boys and Girls [Hardcover]

Gwendolyn Brooks (Author), Faith Ringgold (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

In 1956, Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks created a collection of poems that celebrated the joy, beauty, imagination, and freedom of childhood. She reminded us that whether we live in the Bronzeville section of Chicago or any other neighborhood, childhood is universal in its richness of emotions and experiences. And now a brand-new generation of readers will savor Ms. Brooks's poems in this stunning reillustrated edition that features vibrant paintings by Caldecott Honor artist Faith Ringgold.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Brooks's deceptively simple poems for children combined with Ringgold's vibrant illustrations help to rejuvenate this collection first published in 1956. Inspired by Brooks's Chicago neighborhood, the events, feelings and thoughts of the children in the verse take on a timeless quality. The language and tone appear to be casual, but each poem is tightly constructed, rhythmic and distinctive. Whether the poem takes a child as its subject or unfolds in a child's voice, the images are universal. A new puppy has a "little wiggly warmness" and will not "mock the tears you have to hide." The snow is "white as milk or shirts./ So beautiful it hurts." Brooks's language remains economical yet astonishingly inventive. She describes how "Maurice importantly/ peacocks up and down./ Till bigly it occurs to him/ (It hits him like a slam)" that he won't be able to pack up his friends and take them along when he moves to another town. A few of the poems seem dated (kids call their mothers "Mother-dear," and when Paulette wants to run, her mother says "You're eight, and ready/ To be a lady") but on the whole, the collection will be as appealing to today's readers as it was to a child of the 1950s. Ringgold's bold illustrations, outlined with her signature thick black lines, are among some of her best and most narrative works since Tar Beach. She moves easily from cityscapes to cozy interior scenes around the family dinner table or singing at church. Ages 7-10. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4—The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet first published this collection of 34 brief poems in 1956. Each one presents a different child involved in a pastime that still figures in the lives of contemporary children. Mexie and Bridie are enjoying a tea party, small Narcissa is sitting still while her imagination transforms her into an ancient queen, and Michael hopes no one will notice that he holds his mother's hand during a thunderstorm. Some of the selections, such as "Robert," are reflective: "Do you ever look in the looking-glass/And see a stranger there?/A child you know and do not know,/Wearing what you wear?" Others, such as "Otto," offer a bit of social commentary:" It's Christmas Day. I did not get/The presents that I hoped for. Yet,/It is not nice to frown or fret./To frown or fret would not be fair./My Dad must never know I care/It's hard enough for him to bear." The original illustrations were black-and-white line drawings, done by Ronni Solbert, and despite the fact that the Bronzeville area of Chicago was also known as the Black Metropolis, featured white children. Ringgold's trademark, vibrantly colored, stylized art features children of color. This book is an excellent opportunity to introduce the work of an important author to a new generation. It should be considered a first purchase for most libraries.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Amistad (December 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060295058
• ISBN-13: 978-0060295059
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tip of the hat to an all time great, May 28, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bronzeville Boys and Girls (Library Binding)

We needn't act so surprised that the great twentieth century American poet Gwendolyn Brooks wrote books of poetry for children. What could be more natural? This poet shares her gifts with the small people that inhabit her hometown (in this case, Chicago). What did surprise me was the original publication date of this title. Now I read through this entire collection of urban poetry and I had a fairly clear idea that these poems must have been written in the 1970s. After all, collections of poems featuring African-American children were just beginning to blossom after the Civil Rights movement. I was feeling pretty smug until I glanced at the date in question. 1956. So roughly twenty years before the United States understood the importance of creating children's literature for people from all walks of life, Gwendolyn Brooks was taking matters into her own hands.

"Bronzeville Boys and Girls" collects thirty-four short poems about children into a single compendium. Each poem contains the name of a child. This child is either the subject of the poem, or the person delivering it. Taken as a whole, the book feels like nothing so much as a slightly updated series of nursery rhymes. Brooks is an accomplished poet and there is something about the way her lines scan that feels old and established. Take, for example, this poem entitled, "John, Who Is Poor". "Give him a berry, boys, when you may/ And, girls, some mint when you can/ And do not ask when his hunger will end/ Nor yet when it began". For me, these poems acknowledge the struggles that all children, regardless of race, face in the world's poverty laden big cities. Though most the poems have an element of whimsy or light-heartedness to them, many are socially conscious. The boy who does not receive what he wants for Christmas reflects, "To frown or fret would not be fair/ My Dad must never know I care/ It's hard enough for him to bear". You won't find any poems about some of the harsher aspects of city living (drugs, prostitution, etc.) that are so common these days, in part because this book was published so very long ago. Also, it is written with a distinctly young age group in mind. Accompanying Ms. Brooks's verses are various illustrations by Ronni Solbert. The combination of words with images felt almost like a predecessor to Shel Silverstein at times, though I'd be hard pressed to tell you exactly why. It's just something about the occasional silliness of the children pictured.

At the moment, the big urban nursery rhyme crowd pleaser is the accomplished, "The Neighborhood Mother Goose". But that book just restructures old nursery rhymes for contemporary kids. Gwendolyn Brooks went so far as to create new and exiting nursery rhymes for the children of her day and age. Today, most of them read as crisp and clearly as they did the day they were made. There are some exceptions, of course. A couple poems feel a little stilted or overly formal towards the kids reading them today. But many are fine examples of superior writing. If you ever find that you are able to locate a copy of "Bronzeville Boys and Girls", I suspect that you will not regret the fact any time soon.