From: Boagjohns at aol.com <Boagjohns>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 14:57:34 EDT

How great to reflect on Angela's works
  My first "meeting" with her was through her Coretta Scott King Award vof When I am Old With You - published in 1990. The committee delighted in her non-maudlin portrayal of the innocence of childhood and the beautiful demonstration of cross-generational relationships as the Grandfather quietly understood that the child had no concept of TIME And didn' t they do wonderful things together. Of course Toning the Sweep had so many lessons, it was meant for re-reading.
 I assigned as the common novel for one of my classes, and each reader seemed to find different symbolic moments in the story - the ever presence of the color of yellow, the attention paid to the "aunts" feet - each one following a different path, pysically and socially, and of course the relationship between the three generations. As a poet, Angela weaves wonderful stories in cryptic verse as in Shorter The Other Side and also, Running Back to Luddie. If I had my wishes, everyone who works with today's young adults would have every one - particularly the young men, read First Part Last. One must applaud the stand the young father took - and so many young fathers today need to learn the consequences of unthought-\out actions And she makes her statements so quietly forceful that there is no sense of being "preached at"
  Angela Johnson, a wonderful story teller, a quiet and unassuming person, well deserves each award she receives including the prestigious MacArthur Award which has been given to so few children's literature writers.
  Henrietta M. Smith
Received on Fri 16 Sep 2005 01:57:34 PM CDT