Uptown Book

As a reader, I enjoyed reading this book. The illustrations were very well done. The illustrator used very colorful collages that easily caught the eye. The author also did a good job portraying the true essence of Harlem. Through all of his descriptions, the reader really could feel what it was like to grow up in Harlem when the narrator did.

As a teacher, I would definitely use this book in my classroom if I taught younger grades. The language is very simple and easy to understand. The illustrations would definitely interest lots of young children. But most importantly, it describes a culture that could potentially be unfamiliar to a lot of students. Not only would this book educate them on specifically Harlem culture, it could also show the students that there are people who live differently from the way they live. While this is a concept many people take for granted, for many young children, they have to be shown that not everyone lives the way they do.