LS 5603 LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS: Review of ELLINGTON WAS NOT A STREET

A. Bibliographic Information:

Shange, Ntozake. ELLINGTON WAS NOT A STREET. Kadir Nelson, illustrator.
New York: Simon & Schuster

B. Plot Summary:

A young African American girl reminesces about her childhood with her father who routinely had many male friends visiting their home who became movers and shakers in turn of the century America. The entire narration and diaglog comes from a poem by the author which appears as the last page in the book. The poem entitled, "Mood Indigo" on the most rich oversized sheet of shiny blue indiglo paper you can imagine is a very effective ending to this satisfying picturebook that is in actuality historical fiction.

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS with Cultural Markers and Established Standards of Excellence

ELLINGTON WAS NOT A STREET makes me sing more than any children's book I've become acquainted with in a long time and I see, shelve, recommend, and touch picturebooks on a daily basis. Even though caucasian I am a lover and student of "Black" art since I was a young child.

The book to me was like opening a door to The Harlem Renassaince. We meet W.E.B. duBois, Paul Robeson, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Ghana's Prime Minister Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and four other cultural figures of the time period. The book is very subtle about introducing these men to the audience of readers. Nicknames are often used.

The art work is extremely important and well done in this volume. The dark muted yet rich colors of a Victorian home are used. Antique settees, brownstone walkups, men always in hats and with silk ties speak to a bygone era. From the arrangement of magnolias and gardenias in a vase, to the staircase, and Grandfather clock these rich pictures come alive! The purples, the greens, the blues, the pin striped suits, the little girl's young brother in a bowtie. This is a time capsule of love, warmth, and especially dignity.

The words of the poem that has been dissected stanza by stanza on a word and picture double spread has a slow and earnest quality but also a joyous one. The recognition that the girl and her family were important people entertaining important people is done in matter of fact way, never haughtily. The words flow naturally from the lips and slide off the pages effortlessly. One of my favorite stanzas is, "politics as necessary as collards, music even in our dreams." Another page goes on to say, "our doors opened like our daddy's arms held us safe & loved." The look on the father's face and the arms around them, well this picture does speak is thousands of words. The audience is never talked down to, the mood is never too serious or somber. I would love to have a class of students think up a retelling of this story in a post modern setting.....Maya Angelou, Bill Cosby, Barack Obama, Oprah, Eloise Greenfield, Nikki Giovanni, Mildred Taylor, Morgan Freeman. This would be a satisfying project of art and words just like our book.

This little girl in the story grew up to know from early childhood that ideas are important and need to be talked and puzzled out frequently, that African American people are a vital part of the American tableau. At the end of the volume the 9 men are pictured in a postage stamp sized double spread with important information about their life and it's impact. That page is entitled, "More about a few of the men........who changed the world." Happiness, warmth, security were a daily part of the young girls life. What a thing to celebrate, life, comraderie, debates, sharing music, playing cards, singing dancing. The book is many things but understated is an important part of it's charm. The book also begs, in fact, crys out to be read aloud! The illustrations are mind blowing with their depth, detail, and quite seriousness. The cover with our narrator holding a RCA Victor record album is a wonderful introduction to this title.

D. Review Excerpts:

School Library Journal reflects:

Grade 3-8-Nelson illustrates the noted poet's "Mood Indigo," from her collection entitled A Daughter's Geography. The book begins with the opening lines of the poem set against a pale gray page: "it hasn't always been this way/ellington was not a street." Opposite, a full-page painting shows several people walking beneath a green sign that reads Ellington St.......Done in oils, the skillfully rendered portraits emphasize facial expressions, clothing, and physical positioning on the page, and provide unmistakable insight into the persona of each individual. Although presented in picture-book format, the poem is sophisticated, and therefore it may need to be read aloud and explained to younger readers. A biographical sketch of each man appears at the end, along with the poem reprinted on a single page.

Booklist concurs:
Gr. 3-5. The text of this picture book for older children is a paean to Shange's family home and the exciting men who gathered there, everyone from W. E. B. DuBois and Paul Robeson to Dizzy Gillispie and Duke Ellington. Taken from Shange's 1983 poem "Mood Indigo," the words here recall, from a child's perspective, what it was like to listen "in the company of men / politics as necessary as collards / music even in our dreams." The evocative words are more than matched by Nelson's thrilling, oversize oil paintings, a cross between family photo album and stage set, featuring this group of extraordinary men interacting--playing cards, singing, discussing. The girl who is always watching them is, unfortunately, portrayed as very young, perhaps three or four, although she appears somewhat older on the beguiling jacket art. Preschoolers are not the audience for this, and despite the helpful notes that introduce the men mentioned in the poem, even older children will need further explanations (e.g., where are the famous women?). Depicting the narrator as a child closer in age to the target audience would have helped bridge the gap between a poem written for adults and a book for children. Still, with words and pictures that are so enticing, this will be embraced by many.


Reviews accessed at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0689828845/sr=1-1/qid=1189829459/ref=dp_proddesc_0/103-7575722-4136600?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1189829459&sr=1-1

E. CONNECTIONS:

Picturebook biographies of these and other famous African American leaders and other African American poets would be an excellent bridge. HARLEM by Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers or LANGSTON HUGHES: AMERICAN POET by Alice Walker would be a great starting point. Langston is one of my loves since early childhood. The picture of Duke Ellington in the back of this book could have just as easily been Lang. I always taught my kindergarteners to memorize the Hughes poem that begins, "Hold fast to dreams........."