# 21- Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat (2008)

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat (2008)

Edited by Nikki Giovanni

Illustraters: Kristen Belouch, Michele Noiset, Jeremy Tugeau, Alicia Vergel de Dios, and Damian Ward

This celebration of poetry and song includes audio CD and features a range of artists of color, from Kanye West, Queen Latifah and Tupac Shakur to Gary Soto, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Langston Hughes.

In her introduction to the poetry collection, editor Nikki Giovanni provides historical information about the beat and spoken word, starting with a description of Roman opera performed in the square, mentioning poetry slams, and discussing the artistic barriers brought on by funding issues in schools.

Giovanni cautions young readers about modern rap videos, saying, “Don’t be fooled by the rap videos out there that exaggerate and show bad behavior. Those videos can be embarrassing and are not real.” She compares modern forms of poetry with opera, distinguishing hip-hop and operatic vernacular as “bold, boastful, and brave… because each makes us throw back our heads with laughter, not hang our heads in shame.”

The team of artists featured provide variety in the illustrations, with each page’s illustrations providing a context for students to relate to the poems featured.

This book is a goldmine for teachers, featuring a plethora of important artists that one may not otherwise place alongside each other. The endpages feature a table of contents that refers to the audio CD (some poems are read by the poet!), historical background about poetry and music, along with background information about editors, illustrators, and other contributors.