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Let's Clap, Jump, Sing, and Shout; Dance, Spin, and Turn It Out!
From Newbery Honor winner Patricia C. McKissack and two-time Caldecott Honor winner Brian Pinkney comes an extraordinary must-have collection of classic playtime favorites. This very special book is sure to become a treasured keepsake for African American families and will inspire joy in all who read it.
Parents and grandparents will delight in sharing this exuberant book with the children in their lives. Here is a songbook, a storybook, a poetry collection, and much more, all rolled into one. Find a partner for hand claps such as Eenie, Meenie, Sassafreeny, or form a circle for games like Little Sally Walker. Gather as a family to sing well-loved songs like Amazing Grace and Oh, Freedom, or to read aloud the poetry of such African American luminaries as Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. And snuggle down to enjoy classic stories retold by the author, including Aesop s fables and tales featuring Br er Rabbit and Anansi the Spider.
Great for sharing, on the porch or in the classroom. "Booklist, " Starred, on "Porch Lies" by Patricia C. McKissack
The illustrations, with their loose and fluid watercolors with India ink outlines, recall Chris Raschka s work. . . . A joyful selection for all collections. "School Library Journal" on "On the Ball" by Brian Pinkney"
Parents and grandparents will delight in sharing this exuberant book with the children in their lives. Here is a songbook, a storybook, a poetry collection, and much more, all rolled into one. Find a partner for hand claps such as Eenie, Meenie, Sassafreeny, or form a circle for games like Little Sally Walker. Gather as a family to sing well-loved songs like Amazing Grace and Oh, Freedom, or to read aloud the poetry of such African American luminaries as Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. And snuggle down to enjoy classic stories retold by the author, including Aesop s fables and tales featuring Br er Rabbit and Anansi the Spider.
Great for sharing, on the porch or in the classroom. "Booklist, " Starred, on "Porch Lies" by Patricia C. McKissack
The illustrations, with their loose and fluid watercolors with India ink outlines, recall Chris Raschka s work. . . . A joyful selection for all collections. "School Library Journal" on "On the Ball" by Brian Pinkney"
184 pages, Hardcover
Published January 10, 2017
15 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Patricia C. McKissack
162 books206 followersPatricia C. McKissack was the Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of The Dark-Thirty and Porch Lies an ALA Notable Book. She collaborated with Jerry Pinkney on Goin' Someplace Special (Coretta Scott King Award winner) and Mirandy and Brother Wind (Coretta Scott King Award winner and Caldecott Honor Book).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
July 26, 2017
Would you like to know the last film Orson Welles ever appeared in? It was Transformers: The Movie from 1986. The great Raul Julia? His last film was the video game adaptation Street Fighter in 1994. Random facts. What’s my point exactly? Well, none of us know when we’re going to die, so it wouldn’t be the worst idea to treat every project you work on as your last. On April 7, 2017 the great author Patricia McKissack passed away. Prior to that, on January 10th, her collection of African American poems and songs, parables and rhymes Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout was published. A luscious offering of fables, children’s rhymes, historical details, and chants, it is, in many ways, McKissack’s magnum opus. If you are an artist and you’re going to exit this world, bow out like Patricia McKissack. Leave behind something as meaningful as it is beautiful. Leave behind a masterpiece.
“Our earliest toys are our hands, feet, and voices,” writes Patricia McKissack. Now take those toys. Put them to good use. In Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout Ms. McKissack draws upon material with origins in Africa, the Caribbean, and America. She organizes the book in terms of age, starting with the earliest of hand rhymes and claps, then morphing into jump rope rhymes and games. Circle games and ring shouts are followed by more serious material, like spirituals and hymns, proverbs and psalms. Covering every possible form of storytelling, we are treated to fables, superstitions, and “mama sayings” before the book closes with “performance pieces inspired by African American writers” and finally, folktales and storytelling. All this, additional Notes, a Bibliography, and an Index round out the piece. McKissack isn’t merely recording schoolyard rhymes with her book. She’s tying history into those rhymes kids might chant on the bus, giving them weight and context and, ultimately, respect.
Lots of children’s book authors and illustrators have turned to nursery rhymes over the years for inspiration. Shel Silverstein often visited the children’s bookstore Books of Wonder in Manhattan to add old editions to his collection. Maurice Sendak put out his own collection I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild's Pocket Book with the aid of the Opies. When I settled on reviewing this book I figured it would be easy to conjure up a list of other collections of African-American rhymes and songs. I’d seen them mentioned in books like Over the Hills and Far Away, edited by Elizabeth Hammill, so how hard could it be? But as I sat in my chair, staring into space, wracking my brain, I eventually came to the horrifying (to me) realization that until now there really hasn’t been a definitive book like this one. Fortunately, Ms. McKissack includes an extensive Bibliography in the back of her book. Look there and you’ll see mentions of books like Kyra D. Gaunt’s The Games Black Girls Play: Learning the Ropes from Double-Dutch to Hip-Hop. In terms of rhymes, though, that is it. I think it’s fair to say this book was a long time coming and could be described, quite accurately, as overdue.
Reading this book I came to it expecting to find a delightful collection of old favorites. I was delighted to find some new rhymes unknown to me (“Eenie Meenie Sassafreeny”, “Jump Back, Honey, Jump Back”) and I was flummoxed when I discovered not only the rhymes with African-American roots (“Patty-Cake”, “Solomon Grundy”) but also how many of these rhymes made it into rock n’ roll hits of the 1960s, and were in turn made from popular songs (“Shake Your Body” ala Harry Belafonte). For example, the ring shout “Little Sally (Waters) Walker” contains the line “Rise, Sally, Rise”. You learn something new every day.
Ms. McKissack talks a little in her Introduction about why she chose to write this book. As she puts it, “In writing this book, I have relied heavily upon my own play experiences as a child . . . This really is a collection of my favorite childhood games, songs, poetry, and stories that are directly linked to my African American heritage.” And had she chosen to do so, she could have just limited this book to those games, songs, and rhymes. What makes the collection far more interesting is her ability to add in some context. So you’ll have your jump rope rhymes in the “Turn About” chapter, as well as songs inspired by the Underground Railroad in the “Follow the Drinking Gourd” section after that. The psalms were a surprise to me, no doubt about it. The casual inclusion of Christian selections in any book for kids that doesn’t come from a specifically religious publisher is a rarity. But it was in the last chapter where I felt Ms. McKissack was really taking her final bow. Over the years she’s produced such memorable books as Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters, tall tales like A Million Fish . . . More Or Less, and the unforgettable The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (also done alongside Brian Pinkney). Chapter 9 of Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout feels like a victory lap, reminding us of just how much we lost when Ms. McKissack passed away, and how much she left behind for us to enjoy.
Accompanying McKissack is her longtime collaborator Brian Pinkney. Mr. Pinkney is such an interesting illustrator to watch. If you weren’t paying attention you might assume that his art looks the same in every book he does. It would be more accurate to note how the man is always trying new things. Whether it’s scratchboards or watercolors, he isn’t afraid to adapt to whatever book he’s accompanying. In this title the forms and figures are consistently circular. His watercolors’ brush strokes swoop over and around and around and over. Even if a character is in a static position, standing or praying, lines of paint swoop about, connecting. I was curious whether or not Mr. Pinkney would include any information at the end of the book about why he chose to return to the circle movement. It’s not like he hasn’t done it in books before. His Hush, Little Baby for example, is a little more precise with its brushstrokes than what we’re seeing here, but no less circular. No official word on his reasons exists, though he does have a Note at the beginning of the book that says that “When I touched paintbrush to paper, the images danced from my hand onto the page.” I think it’s fair to say that when you’re trying to convey movement, a circle is an effective tool to have in your back pocket.
Sometimes my six-year-old will come home from school and proudly announce the rhymes she learned on the bus that day. She hasn’t yet quite learned that these rhymes are supposed to be forbidden to adult ears. So while I still can, I listen. Some of the rhymes she recites are found in this book (“Shame” is a staple) while others are all new to me. When we consider whether or not Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout is just a fancy reference book or a collection that you could actually use with children, recall too that nothing in this book is dead and gone. As Ms. McKissack writes herself, “Like all folk expressions, they have continually morphed over the years, and continue to do so today.” Share this book with a classroom of kids. Share this book with your own kid when they start chanting something that they think is out of earshot. Share this book with any kid you can imagine, but share this book. Share the works of Patricia McKissack, a woman whose contributions to children’s literature will be remembered long after you and I are gone. Share her great works.
For all ages.
“Our earliest toys are our hands, feet, and voices,” writes Patricia McKissack. Now take those toys. Put them to good use. In Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout Ms. McKissack draws upon material with origins in Africa, the Caribbean, and America. She organizes the book in terms of age, starting with the earliest of hand rhymes and claps, then morphing into jump rope rhymes and games. Circle games and ring shouts are followed by more serious material, like spirituals and hymns, proverbs and psalms. Covering every possible form of storytelling, we are treated to fables, superstitions, and “mama sayings” before the book closes with “performance pieces inspired by African American writers” and finally, folktales and storytelling. All this, additional Notes, a Bibliography, and an Index round out the piece. McKissack isn’t merely recording schoolyard rhymes with her book. She’s tying history into those rhymes kids might chant on the bus, giving them weight and context and, ultimately, respect.
Lots of children’s book authors and illustrators have turned to nursery rhymes over the years for inspiration. Shel Silverstein often visited the children’s bookstore Books of Wonder in Manhattan to add old editions to his collection. Maurice Sendak put out his own collection I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild's Pocket Book with the aid of the Opies. When I settled on reviewing this book I figured it would be easy to conjure up a list of other collections of African-American rhymes and songs. I’d seen them mentioned in books like Over the Hills and Far Away, edited by Elizabeth Hammill, so how hard could it be? But as I sat in my chair, staring into space, wracking my brain, I eventually came to the horrifying (to me) realization that until now there really hasn’t been a definitive book like this one. Fortunately, Ms. McKissack includes an extensive Bibliography in the back of her book. Look there and you’ll see mentions of books like Kyra D. Gaunt’s The Games Black Girls Play: Learning the Ropes from Double-Dutch to Hip-Hop. In terms of rhymes, though, that is it. I think it’s fair to say this book was a long time coming and could be described, quite accurately, as overdue.
Reading this book I came to it expecting to find a delightful collection of old favorites. I was delighted to find some new rhymes unknown to me (“Eenie Meenie Sassafreeny”, “Jump Back, Honey, Jump Back”) and I was flummoxed when I discovered not only the rhymes with African-American roots (“Patty-Cake”, “Solomon Grundy”) but also how many of these rhymes made it into rock n’ roll hits of the 1960s, and were in turn made from popular songs (“Shake Your Body” ala Harry Belafonte). For example, the ring shout “Little Sally (Waters) Walker” contains the line “Rise, Sally, Rise”. You learn something new every day.
Ms. McKissack talks a little in her Introduction about why she chose to write this book. As she puts it, “In writing this book, I have relied heavily upon my own play experiences as a child . . . This really is a collection of my favorite childhood games, songs, poetry, and stories that are directly linked to my African American heritage.” And had she chosen to do so, she could have just limited this book to those games, songs, and rhymes. What makes the collection far more interesting is her ability to add in some context. So you’ll have your jump rope rhymes in the “Turn About” chapter, as well as songs inspired by the Underground Railroad in the “Follow the Drinking Gourd” section after that. The psalms were a surprise to me, no doubt about it. The casual inclusion of Christian selections in any book for kids that doesn’t come from a specifically religious publisher is a rarity. But it was in the last chapter where I felt Ms. McKissack was really taking her final bow. Over the years she’s produced such memorable books as Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters, tall tales like A Million Fish . . . More Or Less, and the unforgettable The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (also done alongside Brian Pinkney). Chapter 9 of Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout feels like a victory lap, reminding us of just how much we lost when Ms. McKissack passed away, and how much she left behind for us to enjoy.
Accompanying McKissack is her longtime collaborator Brian Pinkney. Mr. Pinkney is such an interesting illustrator to watch. If you weren’t paying attention you might assume that his art looks the same in every book he does. It would be more accurate to note how the man is always trying new things. Whether it’s scratchboards or watercolors, he isn’t afraid to adapt to whatever book he’s accompanying. In this title the forms and figures are consistently circular. His watercolors’ brush strokes swoop over and around and around and over. Even if a character is in a static position, standing or praying, lines of paint swoop about, connecting. I was curious whether or not Mr. Pinkney would include any information at the end of the book about why he chose to return to the circle movement. It’s not like he hasn’t done it in books before. His Hush, Little Baby for example, is a little more precise with its brushstrokes than what we’re seeing here, but no less circular. No official word on his reasons exists, though he does have a Note at the beginning of the book that says that “When I touched paintbrush to paper, the images danced from my hand onto the page.” I think it’s fair to say that when you’re trying to convey movement, a circle is an effective tool to have in your back pocket.
Sometimes my six-year-old will come home from school and proudly announce the rhymes she learned on the bus that day. She hasn’t yet quite learned that these rhymes are supposed to be forbidden to adult ears. So while I still can, I listen. Some of the rhymes she recites are found in this book (“Shame” is a staple) while others are all new to me. When we consider whether or not Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout is just a fancy reference book or a collection that you could actually use with children, recall too that nothing in this book is dead and gone. As Ms. McKissack writes herself, “Like all folk expressions, they have continually morphed over the years, and continue to do so today.” Share this book with a classroom of kids. Share this book with your own kid when they start chanting something that they think is out of earshot. Share this book with any kid you can imagine, but share this book. Share the works of Patricia McKissack, a woman whose contributions to children’s literature will be remembered long after you and I are gone. Share her great works.
For all ages.
February 22, 2017
This celebration of a people and a culture was a great read for Black History Month. This collection spans from ancient Greece's Aesop to modern America's Bugs Bunny, and it includes jump rope rhymes, folk songs, ballads, legends, lore, proverbs, Biblical passages, poems, hand claps, historical information, hymns, and spirituals. African-American contributions to music, to literature, and to society are shared here. More than that, they are celebrated, as products of and testaments to the artists who created them. This book was a joy.
April 10, 2020
The McKissacks, Patricia and her husband Frederick, are some of the best authors of children's books in general, and of children's books with black protagonists and topics in particular. Not only is this book a treasury of songs and stories, but the illustrations by Brian Pinkney are lovely. Should become an American classic.
January 1, 2020
Reading library books with the Littles is always fun. While they enjoy me reading to them, I love their questions and observations.
February 17, 2017
What a way to celebrate Black History Month! With plenty of games, songs, poems and stories, this volume happily combines them all into a delightful rhythm of rhymes, clapping and singing. While the book focuses on games and songs from an African-American background, children of various backgrounds will find new and familiar games on the pages. This mix of discovery and warm familiarity makes this a book that both invites exploration and gives everyone a place to stop and smile in recognition.
This book is almost an encyclopedia of games and songs. Page after page will have readers humming along, singing aloud and looking for a partner to play a newfound or best-loved game. The poetry section adds a real richness to the book, allowing it to slow from the fast pace of the games and songs. McKissack introduces each game, song or poem with a short paragraph about it. This creates a book that is far more than one game after another, adding historical information too.
Pinkney’s illustrations are pure movement on the page. They dance and swirl and tilt and play. Sweeps of color embrace the ink drawings, adding even more motion to the page. There’s a feeling of freedom in the illustrations, a playful wildness that is pure refreshment to the eye.
A book for every public library, this is a must-have. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
This book is almost an encyclopedia of games and songs. Page after page will have readers humming along, singing aloud and looking for a partner to play a newfound or best-loved game. The poetry section adds a real richness to the book, allowing it to slow from the fast pace of the games and songs. McKissack introduces each game, song or poem with a short paragraph about it. This creates a book that is far more than one game after another, adding historical information too.
Pinkney’s illustrations are pure movement on the page. They dance and swirl and tilt and play. Sweeps of color embrace the ink drawings, adding even more motion to the page. There’s a feeling of freedom in the illustrations, a playful wildness that is pure refreshment to the eye.
A book for every public library, this is a must-have. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
January 31, 2017
I think teachers are the best audience for this. Could be used in classroom, though I think there's still room for someone to make a very fine textbook along these lines. Not sure this quite works for a child audience otherwise, and though the production is fine, it really would have been better with accompanying audio, video, or even sheet music as needed.
March 23, 2018
HCPL Juv Nonfiction 305.896 Mac
This very special book is sure to become a treasured keepsake for African American families and will inspire joy in all who read it.
Parents and grandparents will delight in sharing this exuberant book with the children in their lives. Here is a songbook, a storybook, a poetry collection, and much more, all rolled into one. Find a partner for hand claps such as "Eenie, Meenie, Sassafreeny," or form a circle for games like "Little Sally Walker." Gather as a family to sing well-loved songs like "Amazing Grace" and "Oh, Freedom," or to read aloud the poetry of such African American luminaries as Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. And snuggle down to enjoy classic stories retold by the author, including Aesop's fables and tales featuring Br'er Rabbit and Anansi the Spider.
Subject: African Americans -- Social life and customs -- Juvenile literature.
African Americans -- Games -- Juvenile literature.
African Americans -- Songs and music -- Juvenile literature.
African American children -- Juvenile literature.
Added Author:
Pinkney, J. Brian,
This very special book is sure to become a treasured keepsake for African American families and will inspire joy in all who read it.
Parents and grandparents will delight in sharing this exuberant book with the children in their lives. Here is a songbook, a storybook, a poetry collection, and much more, all rolled into one. Find a partner for hand claps such as "Eenie, Meenie, Sassafreeny," or form a circle for games like "Little Sally Walker." Gather as a family to sing well-loved songs like "Amazing Grace" and "Oh, Freedom," or to read aloud the poetry of such African American luminaries as Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. And snuggle down to enjoy classic stories retold by the author, including Aesop's fables and tales featuring Br'er Rabbit and Anansi the Spider.
Subject: African Americans -- Social life and customs -- Juvenile literature.
African Americans -- Games -- Juvenile literature.
African Americans -- Songs and music -- Juvenile literature.
African American children -- Juvenile literature.
Added Author:
Pinkney, J. Brian,
March 17, 2017
This is a great book filled with a lot of stories, songs and poems that have been well-known in the African-American community here in America. Many of the stories are well-known outside that community as well, but there is a lot of historical information given that helps see the roots of these stories. For example, I had no idea that 'This Train is bound for Glory' was NOT referring to a bunch of people going to heaven. No. They were runaway slaves headed for freedom. Quite remarkable. I would be pleased to see this book make it onto the honor rolls of the 2018 Newbery. If it does not, then I would actually be quite disappointed if it didn't at least win the Coretta Scott King Award or an honor.
August 29, 2017
This collection of rhymes, songs, stories and games in the African American communities is a gem of a resource. Patricia McKissack has been a very highly respected children's author for many years, and this was the last book she wrote before she passed. My question is, this is such a good basic topic, why didn't anybody think to do it before? I went on to youtube to hear some of the songs, but I was startled to find that I couldn't find any videos of young African American girls doing the complex hand clap rhymes. The circle games (like "Little Sally Walker") sound useful for when I do school visits.
July 22, 2017
A joyful collection of rhymes, fables, songs, stories, bio sketches for all ages. This is indeed a wonderful reference book for schools, day camps, summer camps, cookouts, churches, libraries, and more! Readers are exposed to a rich retelling of all types of songs, poetry, and stories plus the history behind them. Enjoy this wonderful compilation by an outstanding author, illustrator team: Patricia C. McKissack and Brian Pinkney.
February 3, 2020
What a great book! Several of the jump rope rhymes I remember jumping to when I was young. And the songs inspired by the underground railroad, and the spirituals, hymns and gospel music I also sang. I love this collection of classic games, songs, and stories from the childhood of the author in the American South, which also touched my MidWest American heart. Thank you for bringing these all together in one book!
April 9, 2021
Variations of hand clapping, jump rope, circle games, Underground Railroad songs, spirituals, hymns, and Gospel music, and words of wisdom. Great background information about the games and history behind them. Lots of great clapping verses, but little instruction on the clapping patterns. If you know the actions or melody, the information and words will refresh your memory, but if you are starting from scratch, you will need to visit sources in the bibliography.
March 19, 2017
When Patricia McKissack was a child, these were the songs she learned from her parents and teachers, the games she played with her friends and the stories she was told, both at home and in church. Includes clapping games, jump rope rhymes and dances. The song chapters talk about the underground railroad, Spirituals, Hymns and Gospel Music, while the stories come from The Bible, Aesop, superstitions and Mama. Also included are some Harlem Renaissance poems, perfect to memorize and perform, and some traditional African American folktales and scary stories.
This is a well compiled collection. Each entry includes an historical context, origin story and how it relates to the African American community, including McKissack’s personal recollections. Large print selections - perfect for the early reader, with a different font for the introductions makes this a perfect mix of cultural information, tradition, and fun. Author notes along with a bibliography and index make this an excellent research source.
Cross-posted to: http://kissthebook.blogspot.com CHECK IT OUT!
This is a well compiled collection. Each entry includes an historical context, origin story and how it relates to the African American community, including McKissack’s personal recollections. Large print selections - perfect for the early reader, with a different font for the introductions makes this a perfect mix of cultural information, tradition, and fun. Author notes along with a bibliography and index make this an excellent research source.
Cross-posted to: http://kissthebook.blogspot.com CHECK IT OUT!
August 9, 2018
I agree that it can be frustrating not to have suggested tune/rhythm included (especially for the hand clap rhymes included), but the contextual/historical information and the GORGEOUS, lyrical illustrations by Pinkney are more than worth the price of admission. Great volume to have circulating in a library collection, but also a really good resource to have for teachers/librarians.
April 8, 2023
Light delving into different oral traditions with some interesting facts on their backgrounds.
It is nice in that it is anthropological in nature, but it doesn't take on that heaviness that so frequently comes with that.
Pinkney was a natural choice for the illustrations, with his fluid lines working well to convey movement.
It is nice in that it is anthropological in nature, but it doesn't take on that heaviness that so frequently comes with that.
Pinkney was a natural choice for the illustrations, with his fluid lines working well to convey movement.
February 24, 2024
An absolute treasure. I did not read this cover-to-cover, but it is full of poems, songs, and stories that create a picture of African-American heritage. Not just a collection of nursery rhymes, I came away with an understanding of how culture transforms over time, as well as how my own childhood rhymes fit into this larger construct.
July 4, 2017
This is a great exploration of rhymes that many of us grew up with. It really sparked a lot of great memories. I learned so much about how music inspired the black community during tough times and how certain words like "glory" where code during the time of the underground railroad
July 14, 2017
A truly outstanding anthology that will not only take you back to games and moments from your own childhood, but gives a very interesting perspective on how different variations of popular songs, rhymes, etc. reflect the culture and history of WHERE you grew up. Loved it!
July 27, 2017
Old favorite children's rhymes,and some new to me, are highlighted with the history of each rhyme and of the corresponding time period. Hopefully future generations of children will still grow up knowing these rhymes.
August 17, 2017
What a great resource?! There is some good, solid research here. I found myself singing and clapping along, remembering my own childhood in the South while reading this one. Fantastic collection with wonderful, evocative illustrations.
January 18, 2021
This book is full of songs, rhymes, poems, stories, etc. that stem from African American culture. Patricia McKissack's extensive research is evident and is what really makes this collection incredible.
May 31, 2017
I love folklore books about kids' folklore for kids.
August 14, 2017
Brian Pinkney's illustrations are brilliant!
September 6, 2017
Such a great collection of child-hood folklore, love the history and commentary that is added.
February 19, 2017
During childhood our words form into chants, songs, rhymes, sayings, poems and stories. When learned by heart from daily use, we carry them into adulthood. They are passed from one generation to the next generation, their rhythmic memories echoing through the ages.
As an integral part of our culture, they shape us. Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out!: Games, Songs & Stories from an African American Childhood (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, January 10, 2017) collected by Patricia C. McKissack with illustrations by Brian Pinkney is a treasury of tradition and history. It is an astounding resource.
My full recommendation: http://librariansquest.blogspot.com/2...
As an integral part of our culture, they shape us. Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out!: Games, Songs & Stories from an African American Childhood (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, January 10, 2017) collected by Patricia C. McKissack with illustrations by Brian Pinkney is a treasury of tradition and history. It is an astounding resource.
My full recommendation: http://librariansquest.blogspot.com/2...
February 22, 2017
I couldn't get past the fact that none of the clapping rhymes give any suggested hand movements, and none of the songs have any melodies provided.
February 19, 2017
This comprehensive, joyful collection celebrates the oral traditions of African American communities, sharing a dynamic range of songs, rhymes, and stories. Explains that “our earliest toys are our hands, feet, and voices,” McKissack encourages readers to try these songs for themselves, especially sharing them with youngsters. Parents, teachers and children will want to dip into this volume time and time again.
While the length makes this more of a parent or teacher resource, older children (ages 8-10) will have fun reading and trying out many of the songs and games.
While the length makes this more of a parent or teacher resource, older children (ages 8-10) will have fun reading and trying out many of the songs and games.
January 24, 2017
Large collection of popular rhymes, word games, poetry, folktales, and more from the author's childhood. Each rhyme includes some historical context on its origin. For example, "If You're Happy and You Know It" began as a celebratory song about freedom from slavery. A wonderful educational collection.
November 15, 2017
Reviewed for the Mock Caldecott awards. I really enjoyed this wonderful collection of songs, poems and games remembered from African American's childhood memories. I was familiar with many but there were probably just as many or more that I'd never hard. This would be a great book to share in order to preserve these special memories.
January 8, 2017
A handsome volume of well-selected pieces accompanied by thoughtful commentary.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews