Roots and Blues: A Celebration

Through poems and poetic prose pieces, acclaimed children's author Arnold Adoff celebrates that uniquely American form of music called the blues. In his signature “shaped speech” style, he creates a narrative of moments and joyous music, from the drums of the ancestors, the red dirt of the plantations, the current of the mighty Mississippi, and the shackles, blood, and tears of slavery. Each chop of the ax is a beat, each lash of the whip fashions another line on the musical staff. But each sound also creates the chords and harmonies that preserve the ancestors and their stories, and sustain life, faith, and hope into our own times.

I liked this fine, but poetry is a difficult thing for me. I'm much pickier about my poetry than I am about my prose and this didn't capture me the way some of my favorite poetry does. I found the spacing on the page to be difficult to contend with in general although for a few poems I thought it worked really well. Christie's acrylic illustrations burst with color (the spread on pages 32 and 33 is a gorgeous example of this) and look somehow collaged in places. Distinct brushstrokes provide periodic texture. I don't know the correct art term for the style of the figures - they're not really quite what I think of as abstract or impressionistic, but are maybe some sort of combination of the two? The whole style of the book is just not my show more thing (although I like the illustrations better than the poetry), but I can see curricular uses for it and how there might be others it would appeal to more. Glad I read it so I know it's out there, but I'm likely to come back to it unless a patron needs something like this. show less

The color blue theme persists throughout the book and the illustrations are excellent shades and interpretations of the books' title. The illustrations are highly reflective of the culture that surrounds blues music but the emphasis on the words or lyrics of blues is phenomenal and not overshadowed. Their is a signature pattern and style that blues music and culture has and is seamlessly integrated in the text. I just love this book and learned much more than I expected. More of a poetry novel in format, I still found the book highly rewarding and appropriate for the classroom.

The blues, a unique American form of music, serves as the vehicle for teaching about African American history. The stories of individuals are conveyed poetically and rhythmically through text and illustrations.

This bool iilustrates through poetry that music is found everywhere, rhythms are all around. It tells the story of how the blues came to be, created out of the experiences of slaves and shaped over time.

Great poetic celebration of of Black history and blues. Wonderful illustrations.

Poems that take black history and music (the blues) as their theme.