Meet Danitra Brown
- Book Review,
by Nikki Grimes
From Publishers Weekly
In a series of poems, an African American girl sings the praises of her best friend and their special relationship. According to Zuri, the speaker here, Danitra is "the most splendiferous girl in town." Zuri respects Danitra's quirks (she wears only purple clothing) and admires her ability to walk away from boys who taunt her about her glasses. Zuri is, moreover, grateful that "Danitra knows just what to say to make me glad." Grimes's poetry has a very deliberate rhyme scheme, but it also smoothly describes a number of vignettes and links them with consistent themes and characterizations. Issues of race, feminism and family structure are delicately incorporated, and successfully build an emotional connection for the reader. Cooper's misty oil paints depict two proud, happy kids in an often grim urban landscape. Splashes of green leaves and storefront fruit and flower displays further brighten the sidewalks and apartment-building stoops. Though the selection may be especially touching for African Americans, anyone who has a best friend can relate to this realistic but bubbly volume. Ages 5-up. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-A collection of 13 original poems that stand individually and also blend together to tell a story of feelings and friendship between two African-American girls. Grimes creatively uses the voice of Zuri Jackson to share tales of the girls' moments of admiration, pain, self-assurance, pride in their cultural heritage, sadness, disappointments, play, and their thoughts and feelings about future dreams and aspirations. Cooper's distinguished illustrations in warm dusty tones convey the feeling of closeness. The poignant text and lovely pictures are an excellent collaboration, resulting in a look at touching moments of friendship with universal appeal.Barbara Osborne Williams, Queens Borough Public Library, Jamaica, NYCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 4-8. A series of simple poems tells a friendship story in the voice of Zuri Jackson, who admires her spirited buddy, Danitra Brown. Their relationship is upbeat but unsentimental. They have lots of fun together riding bikes and jumping rope, and they help each other out with chores and problems. Zuri is sorry one time when she betrays her friend's secret, but they make up, and Danitra comforts Zuri when she feels bad that she has no dad around. Zuri loves the way her friend ignores the neighborhood taunts about her thick coke-bottle glasses; in fact, Danitra's proud example helps Zuri when the kids tease her about her very dark skin (her Mom tells her to say, "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice"). Cooper's double-page spread oil-wash illustrations in rich shades of brown and purple are reminiscent of those he did for the poetry anthology Pass It On. He sets the individual portraits within a lively city neighborhood, in changing seasons, indoors and out. We feel the girls' energy and their bond, in joyful games and in quiet times together. Hazel Rochman
From Kirkus Reviews
In a lively cycle of 13 poems by the author of Somethin' on My Mind (1978), Zuri Jackson celebrates her vibrant best friend Danitra: ``the most splendiferous girl in town...She's not afraid to take a dare./If something's hard, she doesn't care./She'll try her best, no matter what.'' Danitra shares work, play, and confidences with equal verve, knows how to defuse a mean tease or comfort a friend, and loves to wear purple. In expansive double spreads, Cooper visualizes the girls' city neighborhood in glowing impressionistic pastels while focusing on subtly modeled close-ups of them in their many moods. The joyous portrayal will appeal to a broad age range (the friends are depicted as 10 or 12 years old); older readers may enjoy going on to Jean Little's equally upbeat portrait of Kate Bloomfield, Hey World, Her I Am! (1989). (Poetry/Picture book. 5-11) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
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.
About the Author
In 1974, a research grant from the Ford Foundation enabled Nikki Grimes to spend a year doing linguistic and cultural research in Tanzania, East Africa. She toured the country from Mt. Kilimanjaro to the spice island of Zanzibar and brought away scores of stories about the unforgettable people and places she had visited, which later found their way into her poems. She is the author of many books for adults and children, including the Coretta Scott King Honor Book, Meet Danitra Brown, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, Aneesa Lee and the Weaver's Gift, illustrated by Ashley Bryan, and is it far to Zanzibar?, illustrated by Betsy Lewin. She lives in Corona, California. In Her Own Words..."The written word has always held a special fascination for me. it seemed uncanny that words, spread across a page just so, had the power to transport me to another time or place. But they could. I spent many hours ensconced in the local library reading-no, devouring-book after book after book. Books were my soul's delight. Even so, in one sense, the stories I read betrayed me. Too few featured African Americans. Fewer still spoke to, or acknowledged the existence of, the particular problems I faced as a black foster child from a dysfunctional and badly broken home. I couldn't articulate it then, but I sensed a need for validation which the books I read did not supply. When I grow up, I thought, I'll write books about children who look and feel like me."I was moved around a lot as a child, always having to adjust to new neighborhoods, new schools, new faces. The most difficult aspect of my constant uprooting was struggling to make new friends, leaving them behind, moving to a new neighborhood, and starting the whole process over again."Yet I had no choice, for I both needed and wanted friends. The fact that friendships were bound to be short-lived only made them more precious to me. Little wonder that friendship is a theme I return to again and again. Growin', my first book for children, had friendship as its primary focus. The subject recurs in the poems of Something on My Mind and From a Child's Heart. But the subject is most squarely dealt with in Meet Danitra Brown--an ode to friendship if ever there was one!"Born in Harlem, I have since lived in every borough of New York City except Staten Island. Consequently, cityscapes form the backdrop of most of my writing."In addition to children's fiction, I write books and magazine articles for adults. I inherited my father's passion for travel and have been to such places as China, Russia, Austria, Trinidad, and Tanzania, where I spent one year. My longest sojourn was in Sweden, where I lived for six years. In fact, I have Sweden to thank for my favorite hobby: knitting. I like to read, of course, go on long walks, talk with friends, cook, and play word games. But most of all, I love to write!"
Buy from Amazon
Compare Prices
|
|
Home
