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Children’s
Book Reviews
A
literary tribute to the greatest of enduring cities...New York!
PICTURE
BOOK: AGES 5 THRU 8
Big
Jimmy’s Kum Kau Chinese Take Out by Ted Lewin. (Harper Collins,
32 pp., $16.95). Experience the sights, sounds and smells of a
Chinese take-out restaurant. Realistic watercolor paintings capture
the hustle and bustle of the morning vegetable delivery, expert
food preparations, and the daily mid afternoon lunch rush. The
owner’s son is the reader’s guide, stuffing bags with condiments
and of course, the fortune cookie.
POETRY:
AGES 5 THRU 8
My Chinatown:
One Year in Poems by Kam Mak. (Harper Collins, 32 pp., $16.89).
Handsomely rendered with photo-realistic paintings, 15 poems express
the emotional/personal experience of a Chinese boy from Hong Kong
adjusting to New York’s Chinatown. The imagery evoked is poignant:
English words taste like metal in his mouth, sidewalk cobblers
mend worn-out shoes, and startling red confetti from firecrackers
drape the streets. These poems are grouped by the four seasons,
spanning his adjustment period from one Chinese New Year to the
next.
HISTORY:
AGES 6 THRU 10
Liberty!
by Allan Drummond. (Foster Frances Books, 32 pp., $17.00). “Freedom
is like a flame we must...keep burning bright!” A tribute to that
exciting day in 1886 when the Statue of Liberty was unveiled to
the world with all of New York’s Harbor watching, including the
President of the United States and 200 suffragists. Swirling images
finely rendered in pen and wash.
BIOGRAPHY:
AGES 8 THRU 10
Ella Fitzgerald:
The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa by Andrea Davis Pinkney. (Little
Brown and Co., 32 pp., $17.49). Just 17 years old, Ella began
her half a century long career singing on stage at the legendary
Apollo Theater in Harlem. This ‘First Lady of Song’ won generations
of fans around the world for her velvety smooth voice and heartfelt
intonations. Scratch board illustrations bring the rhythms of
bebop and swing to life with almost magical strokes.
Selene
Vasquez is a media specialist at Orange Brook Elementary School
in Hollywood, Florida. She is formerly a children’s librarian
for the New York Public Library.
Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel:
(212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of
the publisher. © 2001.
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