Hopscotch Love: A Family Treasury of Love Poems [Hardcover]

Nikki Grimes (Author), Melodye Benson Rosales (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Twenty-two poems celebrate the different faces of love within the African-American community.There's something here for every age and every taste, from sweet to sassy to sentimental. A perfect gift of love for anyone, anytime, on any occasion.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8-A fresh celebration of love based on the African-American experience. The 22 selections run the gamut of all types of affection, from teenaged crushes to the feelings between siblings and the bonds between children and their parents. Bittersweet poems describe relationships between elderly relatives, as "Uncle Willis" looks after his sickly wife and a gray-haired couple enjoy a memory-filled moment: "The graying sweethearts/Young once more/Whirl and dance/Across the floor." There is even a poem about the love Medgar Evers shared with his wife. All of the poetry is simple, written with everyday language in a straightforward style that needs no analysis or search for symbolism. Many of the poems are free verse and have a first-person narrator. Grimes has expressed a wide range of emotions in this collection, and each poem validates the importance of love in that situation. Rosales's warm illustrations, rendered in pastel pencils on acrylic-and-oil paints, reflect the mood of each selection. Some of the paintings are framed like cameos, adding to the intimacy of the words. Red-heart accents near the page numbers and red titles on cream paper complete the look. This small treasury will lift readers' spirits and touch their hearts.
Betty Teague, Blythe Academy of Languages, Greenville, SC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Christmas Valentine
Do Like Malcolm
Eye-luv-u
The Gift
Hopscotch Love
Juicy-fruit Love
A Little Understanding
Marcus Toussaint
Medgar & Myrlie
Miss Lee
Mother Love
Mr. Lester
No Excuses
Pineapple Surprise
Sister Love
Sweethearts Dance
True Love Blues
Uncle Willis
Why I Hate Jamel
Words
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (January 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688156673
• ISBN-13: 978-0688156671
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,818,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nikki Grimes conveyed the fire-in-the-belly fervor of a Harlem girl who knows she was born to write in Jazmin's Notebook, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. In My Man Blue, a Booklist Editor's Choice and Newsweek Children's Books of the Year selection, her artful words expressed a boy's journey from skepticism to trust. And now with Bronx Masquerade she presents a rich chorus of eighteen voices, singing openly about ideas, feelings, and questions--things that open minds, invite debate, provide release. A recent Booklist review proclaims: "As always, Grimes gives young people exactly what they're looking for--real characters who show them they are not alone."An accomplished poet, novelist, journalist, and educator, Ms. Grimes was born and raised in New York City and now lives in the Los Angeles area.