Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1049425 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780152057831
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2–In this bright and appealing picture book, Isadora successfully uses colorful collage images to introduce an urban African-American neighborhood. Two brothers wait outside their building for their grandfather to come home for dinner. The younger boy, Jomar, wanders down the street where his friends greet him in hip-hop-style slang. Isadora depicts an active neighborhood in which kids are rollerblading, jamming to music, or just hanging out to show off their clothes and cool sneakers (Check out the treads!). The greetings are short, colloquial, inner-city phrases that include, Yo, bro!, S'up, Jomar!, Hit me with it, Gotta bounce, and Yo! Chillin'! When Grandpa comes home, he questions Jomar's use of slang and gets a proper, I love you, Grandpa in response. The man approves, but winks, turns to the older brother and asks, Yo Franklin, you chillin' with us? before they go in to dinner. The illustrations depict the reality of inner-city life including graffiti, loud music, litter, and garbage cans, but the friendly greetings and bright colors moderate the scene and create a warm, family-oriented environment. Isadora welcomes readers into Jomar's world and communicates his simple joy and acceptance in a way that is contagious. Children will respond positively to the lively depiction and warmth of his community.–Carole Phillips, Greenacres Elementary School, Scarsdale, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Isadora offers a spare picture book that represents the urban, African American experience for the youngest readers in boisterous colloquial language. Jomar's older brother is supposed to supervise until suppertime, but he doesn't notice when his sibling wanders. It's instantly clear, however, that outgoing Jomar has little to fear from the city streets, where he demonstrates his cozy belonging in a community whose members sport do-rags, flash bling, and warmly include the boy in their hip-hop-influenced patter: "Whassup! . . . Gotta bounce! . . . Yo, Jo!" True to a child's perspective, the bright, cut-paper artwork casts gritty elements of city life (graffiti, overflowing garbage cans) as matter-of-fact fixtures of a personal comfort zone. Readers whose vocabularies don't include the slang celebrated here will look in vain for definitions of words like heazy and B-boy, but many children will relate to Jomar's easy ownership of his corner of the world as well as the family interaction that brings the book to a loving close. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
* "Isadora's evocation of the child in the modern urban landscape reaches back to Ezra Jack Keats, from Jo's snub-nosed brown profile to the graffiti on the walls (though Jo's dreadlocks are a distinctly modern touch). Newsprint and other printed papers share the bright collages with streaky oils, the visual cacophony of line and pattern lending the cityscape enormous energy and appeal." (Kirkus Reviews - starred )

Customer Reviews

yo!
Jo is an African American preschool aged male. As he meets various people in his neighborhood they all address him in a different manner. Some of those greetings are Yo! And Whasssup! All of this slang is understood by his friends but when he uses it on his grandpa Jo has to explain it to him.

Real Images for Everyone
This is a great book for children. There are not only super images but it inspires a discussion about our neighborhood and who we interact with during the day. I love the illustrations and all that is going on on the street. I think many kids will identify with this modern, happening book. The use of language is fun and kids will know what's going on as they live in a world where this "slang" is used on the streets, in music and in a friendly way amongst themselves.
I hope teachers and school librarians will use this book in all sorts of ways. Kids can try their hand at collage work too!
Thank you,
Maurice Le Blanc

Great trek through "da hood"
Beautiful images, matched with contemporary slang (or, at least, contemporary for the time being), this is an engaging book for the young reader, exploring the goings-on in an inner-city neighborhood and the verbal exchange between young children.

There is a little bit of the generation gap when the young protagonist greets his grandfather but that, in turn, is touching.

All children's books should be as engrossing!