Light for the World to See: A Thousand Words on Race and Hope by Kwame AlexanderMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Many will be familiar with one of the poems in this small collection, The Undefeated, which was also published separately with illustrations by (my favorite illustrator) Kadir Nelson and won the Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Honor, and a Coretta Scott King award. The other two poems in this collection are no less worthy of notice. The one that moved me most was Take a Knee, with its mantra-like quality. Alexander's introduction sets the stage beautifully for the poems.
All of the poems are effectively laid out on the page and simply, graphically illustrated with a limited palette of grey, black, white, and yellow. It's a visually engaging read, even without traditional illustrations.
As a school librarian, I could see this book being used so many ways - to support social studies inquiry in units on U.S. history or social justice, to explore poetry in ELA, as a read-aloud during Poetry Month, in art class as textual inspiration for visual creation. It's a lot of possibility for a book you can almost fit in your pocket.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment