John be playin'
I be swayin'
help me git dat jazz.
He be tootin'
I be hootin'
help me git dat jazz.
Dakari Kamau Hru, John Coltrane Ditty
Poetry comes alive in Make a Joyful Sound: Poems for Children by African-American Poets! Children are introduced to the poetry of Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Eloise Greenfield, and many others.
Young readers will be mesmerized by the rhythm found in Dakari Hru's John Coltrane Ditty. Eloise Greenfield's Harriet Tubman serves as a tribute to the heroine and captures the true essence of her strong character and courage in the verses.
Harriet Tubman didn't take no stuff
Wasn't scared of nothing neither
Didn't come in this world to be no slave
And wasn't going to stay one either.
Eloise Greenfield, Harriet Tubman
Heartfelt images of a mother's struggles in life are shared with her son in Langston Hughes' Mother to Son. In this poem, Hughes presents a conversation between mother and son using unique dialogue and sincerity with perseverance serving as the theme.
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters.
I'se been a-climbin' on,.
I'se still climbin,'.
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Langston Hughes, Mother to Son
The illustrations complement the poems in an amazingly realistic fashion. For instance, the images of boycotters in A Protest Poem for Rosa Parks connects young readers with that era and provides the poem with an authentic visual image for children to observe. Every page is filled with colorful vibrant illustrations that effectively merge the poems with the reader's imagination.
Make a Joyful Sound is a collector's item. This collection of poems is for poetry lovers young or old and educators who wish to introduce poetry to their students. The collection is richly filled with poems that possess emotion, humor, and historical details relating to the African-American experience. It should be on the bookshelves of every school library in the world! These poems are meant to be joyously read over and over again!
