# 36- A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

A Library for Juana:

The World of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (2002)

Pat Mora

Illustrated by Beatriz Vidal

After appreciating the poetry of Sor Juana as a college student, I was ecstatic to find this book. Mora tells the story of the inquisitive Juana as a child, always reading and questioning her world.

On the first page, young Juana is pictured surrounded by books, with images from her books floating above her. Like many picture biographies, the story tells an overview of the poet’s life. Juana “cared more about her books than her looks,” as a child, spending her time reading and writing plays, songs, riddles, and rhymes. Mora includes a glossary of Spanish terms and an author’s note with additional information.

Vidal does an excellent job of portraying this artist’s life in a bright palette using watercolor and gouache. The book mentions that the technique is similar to that used for illuminated manuscripts more than 100 years ago, a detail that gives more authenticity to the story and links it with the time period. Illustrations are framed by a white border, portraying the story of the social world that surrounded Sor Juana. One full page spread, also on the back cover, shows a crowd in a marketplace or plaza full of movement and vendors selling everything from fruits and vegetables to calla lilies. Another page shows Juana as a young woman, seated at a tremendous round table with male scholars who asked her questions to prove her intelligence. The pages with text alternate from verso to recto and include elegantly drawn vignettes that add to the narrative.

This is an important story that brings up issues of justice. Though Sor Juana’s poems may be difficult for children to interpret, Pat Mora and Beatriz Vidal have created a biography that younger readers can appreciate.

# 35- Tap Dancing on the Roof (2007)

Tap Dancing on the Roof (2007)

Linda Sue Park

Illustrated by Istvan Banyai

Park has written a series of quirky poems written in the Kirean tradition of Sijo poetry, which consists of 3 lines of 16 syllables total. In the endpages, the author explains the format:

Line 1- Introduction to topic

Line 2- Develops topic

Line 3- Twist

The third line is where reader’s expectations are challenged. These twists may include irony, unexpected imagery, or a play on words. Park has also included some tips for writing your own poem.

Banyai’s ink and paint illustrations are a perfect complement to these ironic poems. He has created pages full of movement. For the poem “Long Division,” Banyai has included a child hanging off of a division sign and elaborates on the concept, adding a child cutting numbers and carrying away a huge slice of an oversized cake. As in much of his art, the illustrator uses a black and white palette with colors to accent parts of the illustrations.

Teachers will find some science connections in some of the twists in the poems. “Tide Line” is an example, along with “Frog,” where Park asks the creature if it wonders what happened to its tail and readers must infer about the meaning.

# 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.