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60th out of 101 books
—
3 voters
Roots and Blues: A Celebration
Through poems and poetic prose pieces, acclaimed children's author Arnold Adoff celebrates that uniquely American form of music called the blues. In his signature “shaped speech” style, he creates a narrative of moments and joyous music, from the drums of the ancestors, the red dirt of the plantations, the current of the mighty Mississippi, and the shackles, blood, and tea...more
Hardcover, 96 pages
Published
January 3rd 2011
by Clarion Books
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Relying on his shaped speech patterns and carefully chosen words and phrases, the poet pays tribute to the blues in 62 poems and poetic prose pieces that will have readers humming the blues and tapping their feet along with the rythmns on the book's pages. Providing a lyrical retrospective on the roots of blues in the drums of those who were on this earth long ago and from the soil of plantations and the water of the Mississippi River, the poet also celebrates those who sing and play the blues t...more
Dec 17, 2011
Kristel
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
african-american,
slavery,
poetry,
free-verse,
acrylic-paintings,
award-winner-author,
blues-music,
singing,
song,
chain-gangs,
dogs,
slave-ship,
cotton-fields,
harlem,
chicago,
south,
red-clay-roads,
mississippi-river,
children,
music,
music-history,
history,
chains,
dark,
black,
ages-13-and-up
Award-winning children’s poet Arnold Adoff contributes a new volume of free verse to readers. Readers won’t be able to predict the topic of each short poem, save that they will center around the themes of blues music, African-American history, and the perpetuity of these great people who are as forever as the Mississippi River. His strong language describes the good and bad history, while conveying Southern sounds of blues harmonicas, cotton fields, red clay roads, and often anguished wailing. A...more
I am of the opinion that Roots and Blues: A Celebration by Arnold Adoff, with paintings by R. Gregory Christie, quite possibly deserves to win all the things. There. I said it. I'll be looking for this book on shortlists and award lists, and so should you be. Better still, look for this book.Adoff's poetic style is somewhat idiosyncratic, relying on something he calls "shaped speech", which involves rather unusual text placement in many instances. Words that are meant to be read with more emphas...more
Audience: This book has a more complex style and would be better suited for a 5th - 6th grade audience.
Appeal: I think the narrative style of this book would be appealing to this age group. The illustrations following each narrative help explain the context. I think the students would look forward to reaching each illustration; like an incentive.
Application: I would use this book with the activity of group/class choral reading. Since this book is a narrative, I think reading aloud would help t...more
Appeal: I think the narrative style of this book would be appealing to this age group. The illustrations following each narrative help explain the context. I think the students would look forward to reaching each illustration; like an incentive.
Application: I would use this book with the activity of group/class choral reading. Since this book is a narrative, I think reading aloud would help t...more
This seemed to be a history of blues music, from its beginnings in African traditional songs to today, told through a series of poems. However, it didn't work for me, and I wish a chronology or timeline had been provided at the end of the book, to put the historical periods and people mentioned into perspective. Yet I can't deny that Adoff's catchy rhythms got to me, and made me wish that a CD of him reading this verse had been included. Christie's illustrations were appropriate, but I just don'...more
audience: This book would work well for upper elementary students through middle school. 4-8. I would recommend this book for students that are interesting in poetry, blues and jazz music and African American history. Music teachers may also find this book useful in their lessons to incorporate music and literature.
appeal: This book has some great poems! The poems seem to tell a continuing story throughout the book although they are each separate poems. There are also some awesome illustrations...more
appeal: This book has some great poems! The poems seem to tell a continuing story throughout the book although they are each separate poems. There are also some awesome illustrations...more
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This book explains the history of blues through poetry. I liked how the author shows that music is history and it often describes the time that it was created. I also liked how the poems don't all rhyme and how the poems are written in different shapes and formats. I would use this when discussing music, African American history, and poetry. During a poetry lesson, I'd definitely pull this book to demonstrate to children that poetry is a type of art, and it doesn't always have to rhyme in order...more
I liked this fine, but poetry is a difficult thing for me. I'm much pickier about my poetry than I am about my prose and this didn't capture me the way some of my favorite poetry does. I found the spacing on the page to be difficult to contend with in general although for a few poems I thought it worked really well. Christie's acrylic illustrations burst with color (the spread on pages 32 and 33 is a gorgeous example of this) and look somehow collaged in places. Distinct brushstrokes provide per...more
Really powerful poetry about the black experience in America and how it shaped gospel and the blues. Starting with slavery and moving to black jazz and blues musicians in popular culture this book spans more than time periods.
Technically this is a book for children, but it offers up amazing verbal imagery and emotion that is very adult. Combined with the artwork of R. Gregory Christie it's a beautiful piece worth owning.
Technically this is a book for children, but it offers up amazing verbal imagery and emotion that is very adult. Combined with the artwork of R. Gregory Christie it's a beautiful piece worth owning.
Audience: For elementary all the way to adult. This book is great for musically inclined students, students who love poetry, or artsy students.
Appeal: The words and images are insanely powerful. The poems are in different shapes and types and the colors and images are gorgeous. A very unique way to introduce students to a culture and history
school library journal best nonfiction 2011 list
Appeal: The words and images are insanely powerful. The poems are in different shapes and types and the colors and images are gorgeous. A very unique way to introduce students to a culture and history
school library journal best nonfiction 2011 list
Collection of poems and paintings celebrating the history of the blues.
I just wasn't feeling it. I know little of the blues culture, and this book really didn't clarify anything for me. Before opening the book, I read that these would be shaped poems...yet I didn't really see any "shapes" just lots of skipped lines and spaces.
I just wasn't feeling it. I know little of the blues culture, and this book really didn't clarify anything for me. Before opening the book, I read that these would be shaped poems...yet I didn't really see any "shapes" just lots of skipped lines and spaces.
Roots ane Blues, a Celbration, by Arnold Adoff, poetically explores the history of the Blues in America. I want someone with a rich voice to read this to me and read it to me the way it was meant to be read, soulfully. These poems are meant to be shared and not just left on the pages of this book.
Glorious!
Glorious!
This is a beautiful poetry book about the birth of The Blues. However, despite the fact that it is written for children, this is an extremely complex book. Unless the reader has background knowledge (or someone to help guide them) this book will be meaningless in the hands of a child.
I struggle so much with poetry. I can tell when something is exceptional but I always feel like I don't understand it well enough to describe it. Adoff does an amazing job with the prose of this book and the illustrations are well placed and enhance the text. A nice addition to a poetry collection.
Written with the rhythm of the blues, Roots and Blues explores the slave experience, the Mississippi, the south and the blues in a unique fashion, accompanied by the paintings of R. Gregory Christie.
I loved the bluesy rhythm of these poems. I was reading them in my head & I appreciated them, but it all changed when I started reading them aloud. I took them with me on the treadmill. I was running rather slowly, but I had to run for 1/2 an hour so I decided to start reading them aloud. These poems definitely improve when read aloud or with a beat. I could see the poems, but I could feel them too. Some that i loved were: The Kerosene Lamp is Smoking up the Night Room, Climbing to the Top o...more
Simply beautiful. If I could have dinner with any couple it would be Arnold Adoff and the late, great Virginia Hamilton. And then I would make them read their work to me over coffee and dessert.
My appreciation for this book grew after reading the reviews here on GR. I didn't understand what Adoff was doing, but now I do thanks to all the readers who understand poetry better than I do!!
Celebrates Blues music in "shaped speech" poems, from sharecropping to slavery to the Mississippi River. Great illustrations to go along with Arnold's finger-snapping poems.
I have a tin ear when it comes to poetry. I don't always "get it." But even I recognized the power of these poems, and the illustrations just knocked my socks off.
Beautiful illustrations and poetry in Adoff's "shaped speech" style bring to life the historical roots of the "Blues". A Junior Library Guild Selection.
A great book to teach kids blues. Blues is something they might not be familiar with and this is a good book to use to teach them and also have fun.
Wished I had read this with blues playing in the background. I liked the progression of the poems through African American history.
I would love to see some of these performed as spoken word or a poetry slam. Illustrations are beautiful and the poetry is haunting.
The formatting of the poems aid in making the read enjoyable. I like how the poems explore how music and the struggle for freedom go hand and hand.
hated the illustrations and just couldn't jive with the poetry. Guess I am more a Langston Hughes fan.
This important celebration of the blues is told through thoughtful poetry and moving artwork.
Great poetic celebration of of Black history and blues. Wonderful illustrations.
Adoff's poetry is mesmerizing. Christie's faces leap off the page. The book does a great job of capturing the essence of the blues.
Grade 4 - 8
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