From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2 - This book celebrates a day in the life of a city angel. As envisioned by the artist, this celestial being is a black woman in a flowing white patterned gown with fluid, shimmering wings. She flies about the urban streets joining in on everyday pleasures: hitching a ride on a skateboard, singing along with street musicians, or joining in a game of basketball. She is also there to care for those in need and to perform good deeds. Her role is not glorified but it is glorious. She watches over all in "the city she has come to love." The short, rhyming stanzas set the stage for the stellar illustrations. Brooker uses an interesting blend of oil paints and collage, splicing photographic images of real objects into artistic renderings to create detailed cityscapes. The composition of each page exhibits a great flow of curves and angles. Characters loom large but don't overwhelm the setting so that the integration of the angel into real-world complexities is complete. Each painting can be studied as a work of art. The angel's composed smiling presence is soothing and welcome.
- Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PreS-K. Though September 11 is never mentioned in this poem about a New York-based guardian angel, its shadow makes Spinelli's reassuring urban lullaby shine all the brighter. But City Angel doesn't just nudge aside danger. She plants seeds "so a barren vacant lot / will become a garden plot," facilitates a swishing slam dunk on the basketball court, and slots in plenty of time for fun, city-style: "Skateboards cruising! Step aside! / City Angel hops a ride. / Pops an ollie. Whips a flip. /Airborne Angel--then--a dip!" Soulful mixed-media artwork by Brooker, whose buoyant compositions invigorated
The Runaway Dreidel (1999) and others, accompanies Spinelli's chiming verses with graceful, energetic scenes of a winged child swooping through a multiethnic community; mosque domes and church towers stand shoulder to shoulder in the background. In a further celebration of city diversity, City Angel is African American--a refreshing departure from the lily-white heavenly hosts of traditional depictions. -
Jennifer MattsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
