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CSK Writing: Heaven, Jazmin's Notebook, Breaking Ground,
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From: Deborah Hochman <DHochman>
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 11:05:31 -0500
Angela Johnson asked that we post the following message on her behalf.
" It's been extremely heartwarming that THE OTHER SIDE has received such positive attention. Poetry has always been my first love.
I do indeed feel, as Ms. Kruse does, that THE OTHER SIDE is a tribute to a place and time I left long ago (at an age younger than that of the book's narrator), but which has continued to revitalize and inspire me through yearly visits back to that red dirt road countryside.
As with all my writing, these poems contain small pieces of me. I tell everyone that each poem is not to be taken literally, as the characters are composites of people I know, and time and place has been shifted and sometimes idealized. But even with the merging and shifting?tools often used by writers in the craft of storytelling?the heart of this collection lies in people I love and a place where my family has thrived and blossomed.
Shorter feeds my soul and the souls of my family members who remain there. I am so very happy that others can share the quirkiness, sadness, and love embraced in THE OTHER SIDE." Angela Johnson
07:31pm >>> We're looking forward to your comments about the novels "Heaven" by Angela Johnson and "Jazmin's Notebook" by Nikki Grimes, as well as any responses you want to make to Angela Johnson's original poetry, "The Other Side: Shorter Poems," and Joyce Hansen's handsome prose volume, "Breaking Ground/Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground."
We commend Angela Johnson for her several books recently published and - in particular - for her high visibility this year in the Coretta Scott King Award process. As I recall, she has been honored through the CSK Award process before - for her novel "Toning the Sweep."
Johnson's poems and the photos in "The Other Side" are a tribute to her hometown of Shorter, Alabama, and to the family of her childhood there. Shorter is filled with memories that will soon be all Johnson has left of Shorter, because her Grandmama has told her, "They're pulling Shorter down." Megan Schliesman observed in "CCBC Choices 1998" that Johnson "writes ... without sentimentality or nostalgia... through the eyes of an adult returning to the place of her past with appreciation for what was and sadness for what never will be again..."
Have you had a chance to see "The Other Side," or "Heaven" by Angela Johnson? Or "Jazmin's Notebook" or "Breaking Ground/Breaking Silence"
?? If you have, please share your comments and responses. ... Ginny
***************************** Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison Open during break: Monday-Saturday 9-4
Received on Fri 12 Mar 1999 10:05:31 AM CST
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 11:05:31 -0500
Angela Johnson asked that we post the following message on her behalf.
" It's been extremely heartwarming that THE OTHER SIDE has received such positive attention. Poetry has always been my first love.
I do indeed feel, as Ms. Kruse does, that THE OTHER SIDE is a tribute to a place and time I left long ago (at an age younger than that of the book's narrator), but which has continued to revitalize and inspire me through yearly visits back to that red dirt road countryside.
As with all my writing, these poems contain small pieces of me. I tell everyone that each poem is not to be taken literally, as the characters are composites of people I know, and time and place has been shifted and sometimes idealized. But even with the merging and shifting?tools often used by writers in the craft of storytelling?the heart of this collection lies in people I love and a place where my family has thrived and blossomed.
Shorter feeds my soul and the souls of my family members who remain there. I am so very happy that others can share the quirkiness, sadness, and love embraced in THE OTHER SIDE." Angela Johnson
07:31pm >>> We're looking forward to your comments about the novels "Heaven" by Angela Johnson and "Jazmin's Notebook" by Nikki Grimes, as well as any responses you want to make to Angela Johnson's original poetry, "The Other Side: Shorter Poems," and Joyce Hansen's handsome prose volume, "Breaking Ground/Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground."
We commend Angela Johnson for her several books recently published and - in particular - for her high visibility this year in the Coretta Scott King Award process. As I recall, she has been honored through the CSK Award process before - for her novel "Toning the Sweep."
Johnson's poems and the photos in "The Other Side" are a tribute to her hometown of Shorter, Alabama, and to the family of her childhood there. Shorter is filled with memories that will soon be all Johnson has left of Shorter, because her Grandmama has told her, "They're pulling Shorter down." Megan Schliesman observed in "CCBC Choices 1998" that Johnson "writes ... without sentimentality or nostalgia... through the eyes of an adult returning to the place of her past with appreciation for what was and sadness for what never will be again..."
Have you had a chance to see "The Other Side," or "Heaven" by Angela Johnson? Or "Jazmin's Notebook" or "Breaking Ground/Breaking Silence"
?? If you have, please share your comments and responses. ... Ginny
***************************** Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison Open during break: Monday-Saturday 9-4
Received on Fri 12 Mar 1999 10:05:31 AM CST
