Customer Reviews

Pass It On: African American Poetry for Children

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pass It On is a beautiful picture book of some of BlackAmerica's best poems for children. Here the reader will find examplesof the wonderful works of Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Countee Cullen, and about thirteen others. From the Harlem Rennaisance to the present day lovely thought-provoking poems are presented to the American child. The illustrations are muted but descriptive renderings that are melded together to present a picture of black life at its best.

I purchased this book 5 years ago for my son and a friend's daughter, and I was so excited to read it, my son in 1st grade wrote about the poem I can and it won him a blue ribbon and right now he still has the writing for that poem eventhough he has the book in the bookshelf, when they say "Pass it On" it really mean that, now he can pass it on to his children later in life. Everyone that has borrowed the book and read to their kids have enjoyed it.

I highly recommend the book to children of all age, it's also a book of life experience.

Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly for any classroom up to the third or early fourth grade. It contains nice portrait-illustrations and has a nice diversity of African American poetry from well known and lesser known poets. It is inspiring to children who may have a propensity towards poetry and music. Teachers can use this book as a spring-board for children in writing their own poetry.

Children need poetry today, because they are drenched with confusing and erroneous musical messages from early childhood on from the hip hop and R & B world. Wholesome poetry satisfies that need for poetic expression in wholesome respectful way. African American poetry is a cultural legacy to pass on, as portrayed in this book. The R & B / Hip hop world is, by contrast, based on commercialism, "selling" sex, and disrespect of women, to a great extent. There is a large body of hip hop that dwells on lyric of misogyny as well as self-loathing.

The legacy of African American poetry, is by contrast, a rich expression of cultural diversity worth preserving, passing on and promoting. This book, additionally, provides poems of a historical base, which provides children with a gentle introduction to the history of African Americans in this country. This helps African American children and youth to develop an understanding of their roots, as well as self-insight, which is a valuable part of education, to understand where we individually fit into the broader picture. It helps them to see the culture of African Americans in a positive light, rather than one of misery or encouraging protest and anger.

This is a small collection of poems that should be a part of all schools with a large base of African American children, and in other schools, to help American children who are not African American, to appreciate the cultural heritage and history of African Americans in the U.S.

Book did not arrive in very good condition. Very poorly packaged. It was a paperback (for some reason I thought I ordered a hardback) and a product originally from Scholastic Books. I ended up paying more than the cover cost from Scholastic, once I included shipping, etc. and was disappointed by this as well. I already had a hardback copy of the book and purchased this one as a gift. So I knew that the book was / is great. Every family should have a copy. But just not from this vendor.