Jump Rope Magic (Hardcover)

~ (Author), David Diaz (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-A delightful fantasy. In a bouncy, upbeat rhyme with irresistible rhythm, Scruggs tells the story of Shameka and her friends, the jump-rope experts of their city neighborhood. Their jazzy, jive chants bother sad, grouchy Miss Minnie, and when the elderly neighbor complains, all but Shameka run away. She alone continues jumping to a new tune that enchants Miss Minnie-"-the music touched her toes./It circled 'round her knees and rose to her nose./She tried to stand quiet 'cause she didn't want to care./But the sadness left her eyes. She saw joy everywhere." The girl and the old woman are caught up in a magical jump-rope game and Miss Minnie is literally carried up and away as she disappears into the sky. Shameka is left with the gift of a new rhyme to share with her friends and the sheer joy of jumping. The entire story is told in crisp verse that demands to be read aloud. The stylized cartoonlike drawings are executed in a lively pastel palette, and the pictures wonderfully echo the excitement of the text. Shameka and her friends are full of warmth and movement-even the background seems to bounce. This exuberant book is a winner. Chant it; sing it; jump to it; above all, read it.
Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Shameka is the girl with the motion, / wave my hands like the ocean. / I can jump so high, / till I reach the sky in newcomer Scruggss rhyming account of a jump-roper and her crew. The book benefits greatly from Diazs (Shadow Story, 1999) soft-toned illustrations, in which characters appear articulated like puppets. Shameka and her friends raise such a joyful, playful chant in the street that mean and worry-ridden Miss Minnie decides to send them to their own backyards. She rushes out the door, and Shameka alone stands her ground, skipping to a jump-rope rhyme that dizzies the old woman and allows the magic in. When Miss Minnie seeks to top Shamekas bop, seizing the rope and rising to the moon, she leaves Shameka with one last song before she releases the rope, which appears limply, magically at her feet. Calling her crew to help her pump the rope, Shameka also rises up, until she jumps out, out, out! Well, thats one frisky, hand-clapping way of a childs getting rid of a pesky neighbor or the pesky neighbor personally ending all her own trials. Which scenario is intended is not certain. The real story here is rhythm, high spirits, and the magic of a culturally specific girls gameand, of course, Diazs intriguing illustrations. (Picture book. 6-8) -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590693271
• ISBN-13: 978-0590693271
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 10.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,439,860 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great rhythms, real rhymes, May 21, 2001

By	W. K. Miller "kenmiller32" (NC, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a book of jump rope rhymes, loosely forming a story. The illustrations are truly special. David Diaz' illustrations show boxy figures, a mixture of soft and bright colors, and some of the most hilarious faces I've ever seen in a picture book.

The streets, the trees, the people-- everything Diaz draws has a special look that you won't mistake for any one else's illustrations.

The text bounces along with a nice rhythm. Even if you are rhythm-inhibited, it's easy to find the rhythm in this book.

The text of the book resembles the speech of children, rather than the bookish speech that you sometimes see in juvenile books. Here's a sample:

"Hey, Miss Minnie,

can you come outside?

I got a new car.

Let's go for a ride.

We can put the top down.

We can blow the horn loud.

We can show the gold rims.

We can captivate the crowd."

Captivate? Not many children would use the rest of this speech and the word "captivate." The incongruity of the speech (there are more examples, and you don't have to look for them) is the only thing that mars this otherwise wonderful book.

The illustrations are inventive and distinctive, and the text has a wonderful, animated rhythm. It should be a book that children ask for over and over again.

ken32

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally - some solid rhyme!, July 20, 2000

By	Carlin (Greenwood, IN USA) - See all my reviews

As a poet, and as a library clerk who loves to focus her programs on poetry, I can say that this is a book I will definitely be using in my work with kids! Who in this world isn't familiar with jump rope rhymes? If you aren't - read this book. Jump some rope. Get that rhythm in your bones. There are so many books for kids that are written in rhyme, but they have no "guts", no real feel for the music of language. I am so happy to have found one that does!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kids can feel the magic, May 7, 2001

By	Evansmommy - See all my reviews

My son (age 6) is a picky reader...few books totally captivate him. This one does. He loves the rhythm (and it's almost impossible not to read this story out loud without falling into the urban lilt captured in the rhyme) and he loves the subject matter. He has never jumped rope, but he seems to be able to feel the freedom and thrill of jumping through the story. This is one of the few books he has memorized entire passages of (and it's a long book that we've only had for a week). I'm sure this book will capture the imagination of every child as it has my son's. (He hasn't even seemed to notice or mind that the story is about girls.)