I want this book in my room, too. These poems are from various poets like Langston Hughes and Eloise Greenfield. They're deep and full and sweet and encouraging, especially for black people. Again, this is critical for all students to read. ( )

This book had an introduction on the first page and it taught me a lot of things I didn't know, like that poetry was passed on from our ancestors from Africa. I didn't know it was part of the African American culture. There were happy poems and also sad poems in this book, some about slavery and some about freedom. These poems were written so that we may never forget and to pass it on ( )

This book belongs in the home of little African American boys and girls all over the world. It was the perfect way to introduce children to the great storytellers of the past.
Also, the illustrations by far make the book twice as good. It brings to life the rhythm and soul of the poetry and ultimately drew me to this book. ( )

I enjoyed this book a lot because if I did not like one story then chances are that I would like a different one that would to come up in the next few poems. I can see a lot of children really enjoying this book as it tells multiple different stories and can teach a lot about history.

Jaylen White
October 6, 2015
EDUC 417.001
Pass it on: African American Poetry for Children
I was a little in the middle about this book. There were a couple things I liked but then some others that I did not like. To start with the negative, I did not like that it was a poetry book but none of the poems rhymed, which I understand all poetry doesn’t have to, but for kids and even myself I was expecting it. The other thing is that this is geared towards an older crowd, maybe middle school kids because a lot of the poems involve critical thinking to really find out what it is about and the moral of the poem. The “tales” or poetry was more seen as nighttime tales in my eyes. Most of them were feel good or uplifting tales and riddles that felt as if you would read to your child before bedtime. The positives that I took away from the book, was the way that it was written. They sort of used slang where they talked in an African American slang and would say words like “nothin” or “hangin”, words where you could definitely hear the tone and voice. I also think that this book would be a good one just to keep on hand for your children to have to read a couple nights out of the week because the poems really do tell of lessons and tales that kids can learn from. One that came out of the book was simply accepting yourself for how you are (a common theme amongst kids book). ( )