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CSK Winner: ellington was not a street
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From: Elliott BatTzedek <ebattzedek>
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 15:13:58 -0500
I second and third everyone's praise of this book. I even like that someone made the decision to name the book not the name of the poem ("Mood Indigo") but instead its first line, which I think conveys more of the meaning when the poem is printed in isolation from her other work. I love that the illustrations stretch out the adults slightly, so that I had the feel of being a small child looking at up these larger-than-life men who are in my own home.
Also, for those of you who might be wondering, the author's name is pronounced n-toe-ZAH-kay SHAWN-gay. I once practiced it for hours to introduce her at a university.
Elliott
Message----From: Ginny Moore Kruse [mailto:gmkruse at education.wisc.edu] Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 12:23 PM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: [ccbc-net] CSK Winner: ellington was not a street
On March 10 Katy Horning observed how in "ellington was not a street" Kadir Nelson's paintings so effectively accompany the words of the Ntozake Shange's poem "Mood Indigo."
I also appreciate the "family picture" Kadir Nelson created near the end of
"ellington was not a street." Children and adults alike enjoy identifying the various movers and shakers in this painting. All the visual clues are right there waiting to be discovered in previous pages.
Shange's insights can provoke relevant contemporary questions, and like Nelson's artwork they can be tapped according to each individual's experience and insight. The line launching the marvelous group portrait says it all: "We belonged to a whole world." "ellington was not a street" informs some and reminds others of a particular world. Some might also suggest that this splendid book also relates that world to who we are and where we find ourselves today.
Peace, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 14 Mar 2005 02:13:58 PM CST
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 15:13:58 -0500
I second and third everyone's praise of this book. I even like that someone made the decision to name the book not the name of the poem ("Mood Indigo") but instead its first line, which I think conveys more of the meaning when the poem is printed in isolation from her other work. I love that the illustrations stretch out the adults slightly, so that I had the feel of being a small child looking at up these larger-than-life men who are in my own home.
Also, for those of you who might be wondering, the author's name is pronounced n-toe-ZAH-kay SHAWN-gay. I once practiced it for hours to introduce her at a university.
Elliott
Message----From: Ginny Moore Kruse [mailto:gmkruse at education.wisc.edu] Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 12:23 PM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: [ccbc-net] CSK Winner: ellington was not a street
On March 10 Katy Horning observed how in "ellington was not a street" Kadir Nelson's paintings so effectively accompany the words of the Ntozake Shange's poem "Mood Indigo."
I also appreciate the "family picture" Kadir Nelson created near the end of
"ellington was not a street." Children and adults alike enjoy identifying the various movers and shakers in this painting. All the visual clues are right there waiting to be discovered in previous pages.
Shange's insights can provoke relevant contemporary questions, and like Nelson's artwork they can be tapped according to each individual's experience and insight. The line launching the marvelous group portrait says it all: "We belonged to a whole world." "ellington was not a street" informs some and reminds others of a particular world. Some might also suggest that this splendid book also relates that world to who we are and where we find ourselves today.
Peace, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 14 Mar 2005 02:13:58 PM CST
