From Publishers Weekly
National Book Award winner Thomas ( Marked By Fire ) celebrates the beauty and heritage of African Americans in a lyrical collection of poems. Couched in language that is learned yet emotional, the verses focus on family life, love, freedom and dreams. Although some sentiments and topics seem too adult for the sensibility of Thomas's child narrators, many poems memorably describe particular individuals--Mama, who carries broomweed "like a healing flower / Over and over the rising road / Branching / Like the divining lines / in her / harvest hands"; or Granny, who warns, "Be careful what you ponder . . . / Over a cup of steaming leaves / for it will surely come to pass." Other poems more explicitly address African American problems, as when the narrator's parents warn that "There are those who / Have brewed a / Bitter potion for / Children kissed long by the sun." Cooper's handsome paintings, essentially realistic but enveloped in a haze of light, help emphasize the warmth and love that imbue the book. All ages.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Framed by two maxims (``Broomwheat tea: good for what ails you...when poured by loving hands,'' and ``...A cup of loving kindness/helps keep a family going''), a cycle of a dozen lyrical poems exploring issues of African-American identity through delicately interwoven images related to the tea (brown and gold: ``I sprang up from mother earth/She clothed me in her own colors...As you would cherish a thing of beauty/Cherish me''; bitterness: ``There are those who/Have brewed a/Bitter potion for/Children kissed long by the sun...''; and sweetness, too: ``Honey's been here long...[but] What if the bees don't come?''), and also related to growth, freedom, and family (``I look across water/And cry for our trembling/Family tree''). Laden, but never overburdened, with meaning, the poetry is significant and lovely. Cooper's full-bleed paintings, with vibrant, unsentimentalized characters in earth tones illumined with gold, are warm, contemplative--a beautiful complement to Thomas's eloquence. A must. (Poetry/Picture book. 5+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
