Uptown (Hardcover)

~ Bryan Collier (Author) "Well, it's really the Metro-North train as it eases over the Harlem River..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Collier's (These Hands) watercolor and collage artwork effectively blends a boy's idealism with the telling details of the city streets in this picture book tour of Harlem. Played out to the refrain of "Uptown is...," a boy makes the rounds of his neighborhood, starting with the Metro-North train as it crosses the Harlem River ("Uptown is a caterpillar"). Readers see him shopping on 125th Street, where "the vibe is always jumping as people bounce to their own rhythms," listening to music ("Uptown is jazz"), playing basketball and more. From Van Der Zee photographs to the Apollo Theater to the Boys Choir of Harlem, Collier touches on a host of icons; he infuses the volume with a sense of communityAmusicians improvise, men gather in a barbershop, a trio of sisters in matching dresses head off to church. The artwork creates an inviting visual riff with a pastiche of watercolor portraits, fabric scraps, photographs, wallpaper snippets and newsprint; and both text and art capture a child's sense of perspective and imagination (Collier represents brownstones that the boy thinks "look like they're made of chocolate" with photos of Cadbury bars that double as architectural detail). "Uptown is home," says the narrator, concluding on a note of affection and pride for his neighborhood that informs every page. Ages 4-8. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4-A young boy provides a particularly inviting, personally guided tour of his uptown home, New York City's Harlem. The Metro-North railroad, chicken and waffles, shopping on 125th Street, the Apollo Theater, jazz, and summer basketball games at the playground are all part of his neighborhood's charm. As in Hope Lynne Price's These Hands (Hyperion, 1999), Collier's evocative watercolor-and-collage illustrations create a unique sense of mood and place. Bold color choices for text as well as background pages complement engagingly detailed pictures of city life. For example, the words "Uptown is a song sung by the Boys Choir of Harlem. Each note floats through the air and lands like a butterfly" are printed in bright yellow and blue on a deep red background. A closer look at the illustrations accompanying the lines "Uptown is a row of brownstones-They look like they're made of chocolate" guarantees a smile at Collier's clever use of Cadbury candy bars. While Uptown does not offer the adult intensity of Walter Dean Myers's Harlem (Scholastic, 1997), it does share its warmth and vitality. Looking from his window high above the sights and sounds of the city, the young narrator concludes, "Uptown is Harlem-Harlem world, my world. Uptown is home." From his perspective, it's the very best place to be, and readers will find it difficult to disagree.
Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805057218
• ISBN-13: 978-0805057218
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #684,632 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars for anyone who loves Harlem, August 10, 2001

By	Bryndis Tobin "[e-mail]" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

I spent my early childhood in Harlem, and this book felt like home. It's beautiful! It made me laugh and get misty eyed all at once. I think that with all the negative publicity Harlem gets it's important (especially for children who live there) to see their home portrayed with kindness and affection. To see a celebration of who and what's there now, with due respect to (but not focus on) what was there when their great-grandparents were kids. A celebration that doesn't include hate, gunfire and/or gangsters.

When was the last time *your* child saw something about a black neighborhood that didn't preach, didn't assume you wished you lived in Africa and wasn't about gangs, rappers or drug violence?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Above 110th street, December 5, 2004

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When you live in New York City, you start viewing picture books that take place there with an especially critical eye. Sometimes this can be a good thing, like when a book draws a subway stop incorrectly or fails to acknowledge the correct placement of the Central Park Mall. Other times, it's a handicap. The New York Public Library's 2004 list of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know included Bryan Collier's 2000 ode to Harlem, "Uptown". Upon reading through it, I wondered why anyone would concentrate a picture book on such a specific area. What interest could this possibly hold for kids living in, oh say, Iowa or Nebraska? How could the author be so vain as to think that by zeroing in on a neighborhood, others would understand why it's important? Then I took a step back. I remembered that there are hundreds of books that do what "Uptown" has done. They define a neighborhood, a block, a city, or even a nation so that the children reading the book will be transported to entirely new geographical locations. If I lived anywhere else BUT New York I would have instantly recognized the charms of "Uptown" upon first setting eyes on it. Fortunately, I've mended my ways and can tell you truly that for a spot on description of a unique cultural place and time, Bryan Collier has Harlem's number.

Our narrator is a young boy who knows Uptown like the back of his hand. In his words we hear all the different things that he identifies with his home. Uptown is everything from chicken with waffles to barbershops filled with men in hats. There's jazz and weekend shopping on 125th street. There's girls wearing identical outfits on their way to church and "the orange sunset over the Hudson River". Finally, when all is said and done, there's just one thing the boy can truly say about this world. "Uptown is Harlem... Harlem world, my world. Uptown is home".

Using a hodge podge of mixed media in the form of watercolors and collages, Collier makes an array of complicated and highly detailed images out of fabrics and photographs. The brownstones that line the streets (described, deliciously, in a sentence that compares them to chocolate) are complex combinations of images that blend seamlessly with the rest of the book. Our hero has a very cool attitude about him too. Sometimes he's sitting on a chair eyeing photographs of his grandparents' wedding day. Sometimes he's shooting hoops. Sometimes he's just sitting listening to the Harlem Boy's Choir. Whatever the case, as long as you're in his presence you know he has a handle on every situation. This narrator is, ultimately, a reliable one. Surrounded by an organized muddle of straight and crazy images, you know he's at home in this raucous wonderful city.

Kids will like this book. Whether you're a Midwestern suburban homeowner, a Texan working the fields, or an L.A. sun worshipper, this book will still speak to you. It doesn't matter if you've never even set foot in New York City. It doesn't matter if you've, until this moment, avoided reading books about cities to your kids because you think they'll be confused by them. Regardless of your situation in life, "Uptown" will still speak to you and touch you in some way. This is a book about belonging to a culture of like-minded individuals. It's ultimately a celebration of a home. And whether you're comfortable with that or not, it's well worth the struggle. I think you'll find it a delight.

4.0 out of 5 stars cute book, July 15, 2007

By	Library Lady "Amy" (Santa Fe, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uptown (An Owlet Book) (Paperback)

Neat book to introduce Harlem to younger students but will need to teach some of the landmarks used.