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Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
CCBC Review:
Grimes focuses on women poets of the Harlem Renaissance to draw attention to these lesser known yet talented writers of that time, offering up a selection of poems that she in turns uses as inspiration for poems of her own. An introduction to the Harlem Renaissance is followed by an explanation of the Golden Shovel poetry form, which takes “a short poem in its entirety, or a line from the poem, called a striking line, and [creates] a new poem using the words from the original,” with one word coming at the end of each line of the new poem. Grimes uses this form as she pairs poems by women of the Harlem Renaissance with her originals, with the line of inspiration in the Harlem Renaissance poem and the appearance of those words in her new poem called out in bold. The poems, divided into sections titled Heritage, Earth Mother, and Taking Notice, are complex but accessible, beautiful and empowering, joyful and sorrowful, while the pairings make for turns and transformations that can surprise and inspire. Many but not all of the old and new poems are about Blackness, Black womanhood or girlhood, nature, or a combination of these. Nineteen Black women artists each interpreted one of Grimes’s poems in her own distinctive style, creating stirring visual images throughout the volume. Back matter includes short biographies of the Harlem Renaissance poets and the illustrators. ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 11 and older
Age Range:
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format:
Poetry
Subjects:
20th Century
Affirmation
African Americans
Anthologies
Art and Artists
Girls and Women
U.S. History
Writers and Writing
Diversity subject:
Black/African
Publisher:
Bloomsbury
Publish Year: 2021
Pages: 134
ISBN: 9781681199443
CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 811 Grimes