Acclaimed author Arnold Adoff takes readers down the always-active streets of a busy city in these original poems that celebrate the varied rhythms and people of the city. Exuberant full-color paintings complement the lively text.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Like beatnik scenes from '50s Hollywood movies, the poems in this self-consciously hip collection strain to be stylish and modern. Adoff (All the Colors of the Race; Sports Pages) loads his writing with details city-dwellers will easily recognize but the particulars he chooses ("Boys on skateboards, girls on in-line skates./ Joggers in shorts, joggers in sweats. An old/ woman walks with a cane") and the e.e. cummings-style line breaks and letter spacing frequently seem arbitrary. Often the poems lend themselves to coffee house parody, e.g., the narrator describes street musicians and then says, "We snap fingers./ We snap fingers./ We snap/ fingers." Barbour's (Little Nino's Pizzeria) cleverly composed retro illustrations appear against densely saturated backgrounds-deep red to match a poem about fire trucks, Easter-egg blue to match a poem about Sunday breakfast. More consistent than the text, they vibrate a jazzy fluidity and rhythm. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 3 Up?Fifteen poems in free verse celebrate the rhythm and diversity of city life, capturing its sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and seasons in arresting imagery. Tall buildings pushing through the clouds, a homeless woman with a "stretching" hand, the ever-present utility and maintenance crews digging and chopping beneath the streets, and "...crowds of languages and clouds of steam from carts of cooking foods" all reflect the many facets of an urban environment?its action, pulsing rhythms, and multiethnicity. Two-page spreads in hot colors provide a vibrant background for Barbour's numerous, lively sketches that accompany each selection. Varied perspectives, from that of small dog amidst a tangle of legs, a person lying down on the sidewalk or looking at shifting scenes from a bus window, to an overview of a crowded intersection offer multilayered vignettes. An exciting, accessible collection.?Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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