Meet Danitra Brown: An Illustrated Poetry Book About Friendship for Kids

Danitra Brown

by Nikki Grimes, Floyd Cooper (Illustrator)

This spirited collection of poems introduces young readers to Danitra Brown, the most splendiferous girl in town, and her best friend, Zuri Jackson.

"The poignant text and lovely pictures are an excellent collaboration, resulting in a look at touching moments of universal appeal."--School Library Journal.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Friendship, African American, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Cultural

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tatum says that this book addresses the issues of colorism in an empowering way and I completely agree with her. This book is full of cute and empowering poems about Danitra Brown. It defines how important it is for African American children to have African American friends to lean on. My favorite poem is the Sweet Blackberry poem which talks about the hurt Danitra’s friend feels when the kids at school make fun of her for being black. Her mom tells her that next time she should say, “The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice. This is a very cute and engaging book for the classroom.

[Alexis Imler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grimes, N. (1997). Meet Danitra Brown. (F. Cooper, Illus.). New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Genre: Poetry, Juvenile poetry Recommended grade level: 3-4 Format: African American Poetry and Picture book
Themes: Friendship, bullying, and family Major Awards: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book, ALA Notable Book

Summary: Does the plot summary indicate that the individual clearly read the book?
Meet Danitra Brown is a poetry book that draws attention to young readers through its positive words and spirited attitude found within the text. Meet Danitra Brown is narrated by Zuri Jackson which is Danitra Brown’s best friend. There are thirteen poems found within this book that any child or adult with a friend can draw connections to. The poems speak volumes about two girls who face problems dealing with parental separation, bullying, and chores. Danitra Brown is described as "the most splendiferous girl in town," and does not let anything bring her down. Danitra is constantly being picked on and bullied for wearing purple every day, wearing big thick glasses, and getting teased about her dark skin, but Danitra and Zuri do not allow the negativity around them bring them down. This book allows the reader to connect the lives and obstacles that these girls face and compare/contrast how different individuals live. Meet Danitra Brown makes deep connections to the everyday struggles found within different lives and opens up new perspectives for the reader.

Personal Response: Does this section provide a personal reflection? Are there any connections to the text?
Meet Danitra Brown offers insight into social problems that happen within the home and at school. This book really made a great connection with me because I was bullied for my appearance in grade school for being too pale, having red hair, and not having eyelashes or eyebrows. Danitra reminded me of myself because she never let the negativity around her pull her in; rather she lived her best life with her best friend Zuri. The poems also offered different perspectives for me to look like a person and educator dealing with race, sex, and home life. As the reader finishes the book, one can respect the varying struggles that individuals face and cultures that are all around us.

Illustrations: Notice how this section includes information about the illustrations with specific examples.
The illustrations were created by Floyd Cooper. He is a very inspirational artist that lives in the state of Pennsylvania that started drawing on the side of his house as a 3-year-old. Within his art, he begins with a big gray blob of light pencil shading on the paper and then creates his shape and outline with a stretchy eraser. Then He uses paint in all of his picture books. In Meet Danitra Brown, the illustrator uses bright colors to portray the positive found within the test. Each drawing/painting is very specific to the poem and allows the reader to visualize what the author is saying within the book. The illustrations capture the characters’ emotions and energy throughout the poems and correlate well with the theme that is brought to life such as friendship, hard times, bullying and family.

Reader Response/Classroom Connections:
The overarching messages of Meet Danitra Brown are to always be yourself in the atmosphere around you and do not let life’s obstacles get in your way of happiness. This book can spark conversations about friendships, bullying, family relationships, cultures, race, sex, and art styles. An activity that could be done in the classroom with this book is to talk about bullying and what students could do if they are being bullied or see someone else getting bullied to give the children resources.
History/Art: Students could talk about the different cultures of society and how we all form together as one to make up a community. Students could draw what they believe community looks like to them and then discuss it with the class using the illustrator’s art style.
Mathematics: The students could count the number of times that see Danitra wearing glasses. Then on a piece of paper, students could create their own mathematics equations on a piece of paper using artwork and have their peers try to solve their math problem.
Language Arts: The topic of the lesson could be poetry. The subtopic of the lesson could be finding words that rhyme. Once the students understand the definition of rhyme and they can successfully point out rhyming words, the teacher may have the students write their own poems.
Language Arts (2): Students could write a reflection on how the illustrations made them feel thought the text and how the illustrations complimented the author’s work.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annotated Bibliography Poetry Entry #1: Meet Danitra Brown by Nikki Grimes

Summary:

Meet Danitra Brown is a children's poetry book that features a young African American girl, named Zuri who uses each poem to introduce us to Danitra Brown and their friendship. As readers we get to know a lot about Danitra from Zuri, such as she likes purple and desires to win the Nobel Prize. Besides the concept of friendship this book touches on other important topics, such as single parent homes, race and bullying. It is not surprising to me that this poetry book is still popular among children today (This was read to me when I was a kid). It's poems and various themes truly are timeless.

Personal Response:

I absolutely loved this poetry book when I was in elementary school because the poems rhyme and are almost musical when you read it, which was extremely appealing to me as a kid (In fact when I was a kid, if poems didn't rhyme it wasn't poetry). However from a future educator's perspective I like how it touches on complex and difficult themes, such as race, bullying and single parent homes, which is often not explored in depth for the younger ages. Definitely an engaging read that will appeal to young children

Descriptions of Illustrations:

The dark, often fuzzy shades really bring the characters and the setting to life. The shading and style of illustration definitely gives off both a realistic and vintage (book was published in 1995) feel. When I was looking through at the illustrations I was struck by how realistic they were! I feel like such illustrations really bring you into a story.

Classroom Connections:
This is a perfect book for a read aloud and a perfect book for a poetry unit. I feel that students could easily write their own poems based off of these poems. Students could write poems introducing the class to their friends and they could use these poems as inspiration for what to write about. This activity could be beneficial in strengthening literacy skills and comprehension and it could teach students about the importance of friendship as well. In terms of read aloud, this book could lead into great discussions about friendship and the meaning of friendship.

[Grace Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of small poems of Danitra Brown's daily life activities! Loved it.

[Chloe Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a poetry book with amazing illustrations this is the one for you. Nikki Grimes the author of the book is very well known and won the NCTE award. The text in this story is verse, so when reading it, it is very easy to follow along. The illustrator of this book used multiple medias to make it the way it is today, the library edition of this shows the illustrations very well. This five star book is for you.

[Sara Tropp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book about a young girl and her best friend. The narrator tells all about her best friend, Danitra Brown, in poetry form. On each page, she tells a story about the beauty of her best friend with rhymes, songs, and power. The pictures add to the whole experience in their enormous, bright, colorful ways. The reader can feel right along with the girls with facial expressions and body gestures. The most beautiful part is that it shows how best friends can learn and grown with and from each other, and there is always room for more! As a read aloud for younger grades, this is awesome. The cadence of the read aloud is almost like a song and you'll have your kids mesmerized in no time. This book provides a really great example of how friends can build each other up and learn from each other. Also, such a powerful character displaying Black Girl Magic with every turn of the page.

[Kate Sorg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nikki Grimes outdid herself with this collection of 5-star poems. Many of the verses use a similar AABB rhyme scheme. As an NCTE winner, there is no doubt that Nikki Grimes knows how to use innovative language and create such quality work. The Illustrator's spread along with Grime's verse, work together to create an incredible illusion of being right there with Danitra Brown herself.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounding up to 3. I want to like this better than I do. I enjoy the fact that this is a book of poems about friendship between girls. The relationship between them is warm and supportive, and even though they fight occasionally they always come back to each other. That this friendship is so successfully sketched out in just over a dozen short poems is genuinely impressive. That said, I didn't think the poems themselves were that great. They're likeable enough, and maybe it's just that I tend to find rhyming poems a hard sell at the best of times, but there were a few places where it all just felt a bit clunky to me. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful, though.

[Patrick Hamill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended Grade Levels: K-3
Themes: Friendship, family life, and city life
Summary:
This is a collection of poetry set in the city. Zuri and her friend, Danitra, are good friends. Zuri likes Danitra for many reasons, especially for her boldness and her foresight. When a neighborhood bully picks at Danitra, she takes the high road. This inspires Zuri to do the same when he then turns to pick on her. Throughout the book, Zuri and Danitra help each other out and experience the ebb and flow of friendship. Even when they hit a bump in their relationship, because Zuri unleashed Danitra’s secret about what she is scared of, they soon come back together again. At the end of the story, a new girl moves into town. Zuri befriends her and tells her that she ought to meet Danitra, too.
Personal response:
I liked this book because it reminds me of my childhood friendship with Colin, a boy who lived down the street from me. In the book, Danitra stands up for Zuri and the two help each other out. They work together to get through many of life’s problems. Colin and I had similar adventures, though in the rural town of Shrewsbury instead of the city. Colin and I also enjoyed many hours of imaginative play together, just as Danitra and Zuri do after Zuri’s mom takes her to a show. This book speaks to me of the power of friendship. I am thankful that there are childhood—and adulthood—friends to help one through the journey of life.
Note about illustrations:
Floyd Cooper illustrates this book in full-page pictures. Because the illustrations span the entire page, Cooper must strategically plan for a place where the text will lay. He provides space in the form of sky, tables, trees, and street. His pictures have a mottled sense to them; this absence of clear and crisp pictures suggests a sort of nostalgia about the scenes. Cooper executes the facial expressions of his characters with skill, such as in the scenes he created for “Coke-bottle Brown”. Here readers will be able to easily notice that Freddy Watson and his friend are upset and unhappy, looking towards Danitra and Zuri. Zuri looks back cautiously, while Danitra has her head held high, smiling with her back to the boys. This not only matches the text well, but it provides clarity and depth to it. These illustrations reflect real life in a way that can appeal to children and draw them into the story. When students can relate to the story, they are more likely to engage with it.
Reader Response/Classroom Connections:
Students reacting to this book may choose a friend of their own to write about. Once they have chosen a friend who is exemplary to them, they may write a short poem about this person with the aid of the teacher. After all children have finished their friend poems, they may present them to the class.
This is a great book for students to open up and discuss the dangers of bullying, both in and out of school. After reading the book, the teacher can sit the kids down with a giant Venn diagram. On one side, students can list qualities about a real person who is not being bullied. On the other, they will list hypothetical qualities of that same person if they were being bullied. Is anything the same? If so, these qualities will go in the middle. Students can discuss how a person may integrally be the same, whether bullied or not, but the presence of a bully can radically change a person’s life in a negative motion. After establishing this idea, students may work together to come up with a response to bullying. They can find ways to prevent and treat bullying situations at their very own school.

[Daniel Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: Meet Danita Brown is a collection of poems with a cultural understanding theme. The poems include everyday problems or events any child may have no matter the age, sex, or race. It offers an understanding that a child can identify with Danita Brown by similar obstacles a child may face like bullying, chores, and parents. It also offers other poems where a child may not be able to identify with her, but still introduce them to a different life and be empathetic to her struggles she faces like her only living with her mom, race, and living conditions. It focuses on looking at her life through a magnifying lens and being able to identify similarities and learning about differences in lives.
Personal Response: The poems in Meet Danita Brown are a great way to bring a different life into the forefront. I liked how there were many poems that I could identify with, but even more so, poems I had to use my imagination to reflect on how lives are different too. I enjoyed being able to understand that this book is appropriate for any socially economic school district and any age. It really helps convey a different culture and being able to understand everyone's personal struggles among cultures.
Illustrations: Floyd Cooper uses amazing colors and illustrations to convey each message for each poem. He uses water color and different textures to show authenticity and originality. He uses his illustrations to paint a picture to reflect the emotions the characters feel when reading the poem so its easy to identify to.
Classroom Connection: One activity that could be used with this book is for children to research specific cultures within their neighborhood. Children would read the poem, "Culture" and learn what exactly it means and identify what culture means to their family, heritage, or religion. They would then observe culture in their neighborhood and build a description and definition as to what culture means to them and how it may differ from their own family. Another activity which children can use in the classroom would be for children to create their own poems. Word association and rhyme would be the primary focus for this lesson. Children would create a poem about their favorite after school activity that would incorporate creative word choice and include their own original rhymes to convey how the activity makes them feel, if they do it with other people, and what it includes.

[Kiah Albritton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Flloyd Cooper, Meet Danitra Brown won the Coretta Scott King Award. This was my first read of the book; it made me sentimental about my friendships with other black girls. Sophisticated concepts like colorism and single-parent households were explored in a few of the poems, and I enjoyed each one. The intended audience for this book is children between 4-8 years old. The books works well for that age range because of the rhyme pattern in each poem and focused illustrations. After examining the artwork, it appears Cooper used paint because of the grainy, blurred, and muted colors in the book. Cooper’s style is best described as impressionism because of the manipulation of light and color. Each poem in the book is accompanied by an illustration that captures its topic or theme. For example the poem titled “Jump Rope Rhyme” is accompanied by a scene with children jumping rope at a neighborhood park. The background of each pages consists of shades of browns and yellows, which sometimes makes the black text difficult to read. However, the illustrations are helpful in understanding the emotion and mood of each poem. This would be a great tool to introduce poetry to young readers. As an African American woman, this is a wonderful book to give little black girls language for experiences they may be having in childhood but not yet have the words to describe (i.e. colorism). Meet Danitra Brown is one of my new favorites, and I’m excited to share it with the brown girls in my life.

[Morgan Baumbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: Danitra Brown is a young African American girl who is introduced to the readers through the eyes of her best friend, Zuri. The poems focus on themes of friendship through the eyes of young Zuri. The girls do not let their urban setting hamper their fun!

Personal Response: This collection of poems is great! The author, Nikki Grimes does a great job depicting themes of friendship through the eyes of young children. She introduces ideas such as culture and trust, building a concrete foundation for learning through poems.

Description of Illustrations: Floyd Cooper uses oil paints, which creates a great representation of life in an urban setting. The illustrations are thoughtfully laid out, bringing main characters and ideas to the focus by bringing them closer to the viewers eye and/or more clearly depicted through detail.

Classroom connections: This collection is a great conversation starter. Children in the classroom can explore themes of friendship, single-parent households, culture, bullies, and many others. This collection of poems can also be a great tool for teaching structures of poems!

[Sophie Klockow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: This book was at first hard to understand as it is not written in proper English, but it started to grow on me with it's rhymes about a little black girl named Danitra in the perspective of her friend.
Connections: My favorite page was the one where it talked about "The Ladies Of The House." On this page, it said that Danitra's mom was sick so both Danitra and her friend had to help take care of the mother as well as do the house chores that mom would normally do. I felt like the woman of the house on a daily basis when I lived with my brother for 6 years because I was the only female, and I was the one who always had to do laundry, clean the kitchen and bathrooms, vaccuum, and sometimes, cook too.
How you would use it: I would read this book aloud and ask students what their daily life or routine is like.
Subject heading:
African Americans--Juvenile poetry.
Children's poetry, American.
African Americans--Poetry.
City and town life--Poetry.
Friendship--Poetry.
Single-parent families--Poetry.
American poetry.
Awards won: Coretta Scott King Book Award

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: You oughta meet Danitra Brown,
the most splendiferous girl in town.
I oughta know, 'cause she's my friend.
She's not afraid to take a dare.
If something's hard, she doesn't care.
She'll try her best, no matter what.
She doesn't mind what people say.
She always does things her own way.
Her spirit's old, my mom once said.
I only know I like her best
'cause she sticks out from all the rest.
She's only she--Danitra Brown.

Premise/plot: Zuri Jackson, the protagonist, is sharing a collection of poems about her best, best, best, best, best friend, Danitra Brown. The book celebrates friendship and life (and youth). Each poem is illustrated by Floyd Cooper.

My thoughts: I enjoyed this one. There are more in the series. Sadly my library doesn't have the others. The illustrations capture such timeless 'small' moments in life. They are just a JOY. So expressive, so wonderful. The poems also celebrate the 'small' moments in life. Each poem highlights the friendship between these two girls--the ups and downs and everything in between.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that the poetry is of a different form than we're used to in children's books. Longer lines, unusual rhyme schemes, takes a practice read to be able to read aloud well. Not difficult, just interestingly challenging.

And of course it's just delightful. Danitra, and Zuri, are charming & inspirational. And Cooper's art is a great fit. I recommend this to everyone in the primary grades.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet Danitra Brown I really enjoyed the poems and the illustrations are lovely. I was happy to learn there are more Danitra Brown books. I'll have to see if the later two books (Danitra Brown, Class Clown and Danitra Brown Leaves Town) are easier to find (neither of my libraries owns a copy for some reason). 

[Nicole McElhose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew that the rhymes would kill in this story, because Nikki Grimes, but what I wasn't prepared for was how incredible the illustrations would be. Grimes and Cooper made for such an incredible collaboration in this beautiful, defiantly joyful, heartfelt little book. I'll definitely be checking more of Cooper's work out going forward.

[Vilma Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute collection of poems. With an overarching theme of friendship, the poems focus on family, daily life, and finding your place in the world. Some are longer than others, but none are particularly long, making them good for young readers. My favorite poem was probably "Sweet Blackberry." The art was also lovely.

[Children's Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice book about friendship about two girls.

The story is told as a collection of poems. And while the story is nice as a whole I'm not a fan of the rhymes. The poems are ok-ish.

The art is superb and the story of friendship is good, so definitely still a good book.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't read all of this to the class, however, I could read a few poems a day. I love the illustrations!

[kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the poetry!

[Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE POEMS LIKE THESE SO MUCH!!

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written and beautifully illustrated.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danitra Brown and her friend Zuri have the kind of friendship and self confidence I wish for all of my students.

[Maya]

Nikki Grimes is always a favorite. Floyd Cooper's illustrations are so rich and deep they could right walk off the page.

[Greg Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joyful!

[Maeve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Through a collection of poems, Zuri Jackson introduces the readers to her best friend: Danitra Brown.

[Alexa Jaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book that is full of poetry about a girl and her friend. It also has really good illustrations throughout the book.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rhymes of a girl and her special friendship.

[Faloni © · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would be a good ass girlfriend