Knoxville, Tennessee

by Nikki Giovanni, Larry Johnson (Illustrator)

This poem is a celebration of warm thoughts--of summer in the mountains; of vegetables eaten right from your garden; of barbecues with homemade ice-cream; of church picnics and old friends; of gospel music; and of growing up with loving grandparents in Knoxville, Tennessee. Each of the author's words resonates with her belief that "Black love is Black wealth."

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Library Binding

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children's literature. She won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award. She was nominated for a Grammy Award for her poetry album, The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. Additionally, she was named as one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 "Living Legends". Giovanni was a member of The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective.
Giovanni gained initial fame in the late 1960s as one of the foremost authors of the Black Arts Movement. Influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement of the period, her early work provides a strong, militant African-American perspective, leading one writer to dub her the "Poet of the Black Revolution". During the 1970s, she began writing children's literature, and co-founded a publishing company, NikTom Ltd, to provide an outlet for other African-American women writers. Over subsequent decades, her works discussed social issues, human relationships, and hip hop. Poems such as "Knoxville, Tennessee" and "Nikki-Rosa" have been frequently re-published in anthologies and other collections.
Giovanni received numerous awards and holds 27 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities. She was also given the key to over two dozen cities. Giovanni was honored with the NAACP Image Award seven times. One of her more unique honors was having a South America bat species, Micronycteris giovanniae, named after her in 2007.
Giovanni was proud of her Appalachian roots and worked to change the way the world views Appalachians and Affrilachians.
Giovanni taught at Queens College, Rutgers, and Ohio State, and was a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech until September 1, 2022. After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, she delivered a chant-poem at a memorial for the shooting victims.

Reviews

[Ruci Tukana · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting place for Soringtime holiday!!

[Margaret Chind · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a waste of time. Beautiful illustrations, but the text was completely lacking. I've enjoyed Nikki Giovanni before, but this was not the book we were looking for sadly.

[Bekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Guivanni is about a little girl growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee. She likes summer best, and the things she do in the summer are described and shown with beautiful pictures. Things such as eating corn on the cob, ice cream, listening to gospel music, or picking vegetables from her Daddy's garden. She also describes being warm all the time in the summer, even when going to sleep.

I give this story 3/5 stars. It was definitely written for younger children because of how little words were on each page. There was about 4-6 words on each page, so it was a lot more about the illustrations, and more poem like. What she was saying could be envisioned in your mind. The illustrations are beautiful, with the visible brush strokes and all the color.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture-book version of Giovanni’s famous poem “Knoxville” becomes even more enjoyable and visually resplendent through the colorful illustrations that saturate each page with the poet’s joyful memories of spending summers with her grandparents in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the 1950s and Sixties.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine summers. All the good stuff. Picnics and lemonade and gardens and grandmas. In a simple poem. Made glorious through lush green illustrations. There you have this book! Read aloud for Poetry (and kids books) with Pat in Knoxville Tennessee.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful family and food filled summer Sundays. A celebration.

[Errin Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The genre of this book is poetry and designed for children ages P-I. I gave it 3 stars because it was not too interesting and it was very brief.

The story was about a little girl and basically what she loved about living in Knoxville, Tennessee.

This story was very brief and is clearly designed for young children. It didn't give much detail but seems as though young children may be able to enjoy it. The pictures and the colors used would be very appealing to young children. There wasn't plots and themes in this story.

[Meagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredibly hard to get a hold of (I must have checked a zillion libraries!), BUT, it is one of my favorite poems for kids. It's as serious and artistic as any poem for adults, with content and imagery that is not only appropriate, but comprehensible for younger kids. Plus, it's about childhood in the mountains...so it's automatically got a special place in my heart.

[ColumbusReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this poetry/picture book to an incredibly smart 15 month old and he seemed to really enjoy it. Giovanni is so very talented and this beautifully illustrated book is really exceptional. The High Priestess of Poetry has done it again!

[Alfajirikali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice, bold colors.