Reviews: (by author)

English, Karen. Hot Day on Abbott Avenue. Illus. Javaka Steptoe. New York: Clarion Books, 2004. $15.00. ISBN 0-395-98527-7. 32 pp.

This picture book is about two girls who are best friends but are mad at each other. The story takes place in a city on a very hot summer day. The author helps the reader visualize how hot it is by describing “heat rising off the street in wavy air,” helping place the reader in that environment. The girls, Kishi and Renee, mope outside their homes all day, ignoring each other. The adults try to get the girls to become friends again, but it is only when they hear other girls jumping double-dutch down the block that they finally forget to be mad.

The illustrations are collages that allow the reader to feel as though they could reach in and touch the characters in the story, very three-dimensional and tactile.

I enjoyed this book; it brought back memories of living in a city on a hot summer day as a child and the boredom you faced if you decided to be mad at your best friend and keep to yourself.

Tracy L. Frie

 

English, Karen. Speak To Me (And I Will Listen Between The Lines). Illus. Amy June Bates. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2004. $16.00. ISBN 0-374-37156-3. 27 pp.

This is a picture book with poems about six children during a day at school. The poems are the thoughts of the children. What the reader notices is that each child is dealing with something that involves either their social life or family life and how the child handles it. The poems let the reader into the children’s innermost thoughts and feelings. Examples are that one child wants to be the teacher’s favorite and makes every attempt from bringing her a flower for her desk to “tattletellin” on others in the class. Another child is an excellent reader, a daydreamer who enjoys starting the day looking at the world alone. Each child’s personality is seen in classrooms everywhere.

I enjoyed the poems and the pictures. Karen English gave a realistic voice to show how each child is different. The illustrations allow me to feel part of the class and the community.

Tracy L. Frie

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